Welcome! You have accidentally reached the blog of a heteroclite follower of Jesus: dave wainscott. I'm
"pushing toward the unobvious" as I post thinkings/linkings
re: Scripture, church and culture. Hot topics include: temple tantrums, time travel, sexuality/spirituality, U2kklesia, role of the pastor, God-haunted music/art..and subversive videos like these.
Several have heard about me from the days I was famous/infamous. I made many headlines! This excerpt below about me...in another life! ....from an old Christianity Today article opens several questions re: church, wineskins, loyalty,connection, renewal from within, lawsuits between believers (or so-called believers), hierarchy, church government, shift etc . Many are asking, "What thoughts do you have for the the many still in the mainline boat?"
Well, first of all is:
The thoughts become prayers.
Secondly:
Most days, I wouldn't go back.
Thirdly:
I know I wouldn't handle everything the same way again...my hindsight is 20/20...For some fumblings about how I might do things differently, here's an audio radio interview with me a few years ago )...More later...For anyone wanting more background on what we went through, click this. (just beware, most press articles lack context. I finally refused interviews where I had little control over context) .
CHRISTIANITY TODAY: Not all conservatives/evangelicals have vacated their California-Nevada Conference buildings. David Wainscott, 41-year-old pastor of St. Luke's United Methodist in Fresno, says he and his 680 members want to stay in their current building (owned by the denomination) after they break away from the UMC. Wainscott, one of the "California six" who signed the open letter in March, was suspended by Talbert without warning in August "for encouraging an all-church vote to leave the denomination." "That is just not true," Wainscott tells CT. The pastor says he was following orders from Vickie Healy, his district superintendent, to poll his congregation about who would stay and who would leave. The next thing he knew, a new pastor had been appointed to his church. "[Healy] left a message on my cell phone," Wainscott says. "There was no warning."
His congregation responded by changing the church's locks so that Doug Norris, the newly appointed pastor, could not get into the building. Conference leaders took St. Luke's to court in September in an effort to get a restraining order on the congregation. Their request was denied. Beverly Shamana, the new bishop for the California-Nevada conference, now oversees the conference's 360 churches."We've done everything we can to work with Rev. Wainscott," Shamana tells CT. "We did not want to take it to the secular courts, but he chose to disregard the decision."St. Luke's members see the conference decision to suspend Wainscott as invalid because they were not consulted before the suspension—another violation of the Book of Discipline....
.....................they have wondered about my take on the new news.
The same UM bishop (Talbert) who forced several of us pastors out (that's my short take on what happened, I'm aware it is more multiplex than that) recently officiated a homosexual union in a UM church..against denominational law.
This article's headline confused me, as I couldn't imagine (and never had heard )that Talbert had ever opposed homosexual unions. Still not sure it's true, but it makes great headlines, and sound bytes :
Talbert..reversed his views,, and
now wants to change language he helped to put into [UM church law}
I hope someone spots me in attendance at a gay wedding soon.
I heard that.
I often tell our churchfolk that I am probably in sin if I HAVEN'T been in a bar recently.
I heard that.
But....I mean, where WOULD Jesus be?
So I do confess (something we pastor types don't do enough. See "Some Confessions from a Christian Pastor") publicly that it's been awhile since I've been in bar..but about the last time I must say:
a)it was to hear a Christian band
b)I was thrilled that the bartender was a student of mine (:
So some gay or lesbian friend please invite me to your same-sex ceremony soon.
Now...don't hear what I'm not saying.
I never said I would/could officiate such a wedding.
Just like I never said I would get drunk in a bar.
For anyone who knows my history..
let me say for the
680th (but who's counting?) time
that in spite of the huge press that the 680 (but who's counting?)-member church I used to pastor
took a stand against some of its denomination's pastors breaking their own denominational law by officiating same-sex ceremonies... (see "We've done everything we can to work with Rev. Wainscott!")
such doesn't mean that they/I wouldn't
attend one.
I love Erwin McManus's story about going to the home of two lesbians who had been attending the church he pastored to pray over/bless their new adopted baby.
He's Southern Baptist..I bet he took some flack? (:
How do you say no to praying for a baby? (read the lesbian couple's blog about this here)
Another Southern Baptist..who has a different take on the culture wars than I do (I'm a conscientious objector), Al Moehler:
It is incoherent to say that you cannot officiate at a same-sex wedding because you believe it to be wrong, and then turn around and say that you would attend a same-sex wedding and join in the celebration. Beyond incoherence, it is ministerial malpractice and bearing false witness. see full article: George and Barbara Witness a Wedding—When a Private Act Sends a Public Message
With all due respect, that paragraph seems incoherent.
With all due respect, I hope Al Moehler spots me at a gay wedding soon.
I won't be officiating, and neither will he.
But the conversation will be killer.
Well, I better log off..I should be heading to the brothel. (:
I might be in sin if I don't...
Thanks to Asheley Boggan for bring this quote back into the conversation(s) about where Methodism goes from here. She rightly asserts that, "John Wesley's entire ministry was framed by a submission to be more vile." (p.23).
Wesley's Journal:
"I could scarce reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields, having been all my life (till very lately) so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in church...
“At four in the afternoon I submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation…” (, Journal of John Wesley, II, 31 Mar. 1739, p. 167 ).”
What time is it for Methodism? It's four o clock in the afternoon.
At Bristol.
We of the Methodist tradition are quick to quote a different time, date and place as where it all began:
"In the evening,I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death." (Journal, May 24, 1738)
But one year later at Bristol, everything took subversive shape:
"Have you had a Bristol moment in your life?
A moment where you felt God calling you into something new and unexpected? (Discussion question, p.22)
In a very moving section (chaper 1), Boggan recounts her own Bristol encounter, literally in Bristol on a Wesleyan heritage tour, interweaving it with her own personal trauma (divorce and death of parents) and the denominational trauma. That brave pilgrimage is one we all need to take! Thank you, Ashley for inviting us into the hard but required work of reflection which can birth a wholly and holy vile life.
Any who know my own traumas connected to discerning my calling as a Methodist pastor may be surprised I am not here to comment on the UMC/GMC divide, or conservative/liberal debates. (See
And I would love to be as Bristol-ed as I was Aldersgated.
I will let you peek at the table of contents, and these reviews of the book to learn more about how she apples the Bristol-birthed vile-tality in the current situation. She is well-versed in history, a great story teller, and the challenges are clamant and convicting A heads-up: many in our tribe are not aware of the Thomas Blair incident (pp 30-31) in which Wesley used his influence to spring a man accused of "sodomitical practices" (reminds me of the Pastor Artie Bucco story) from prison. Tell that story, Methodists of all stripes.
May Wesleyans ever be "prophetically offensive" (p. 107) and sovereignly and steadfastly committed to Jesus..and to true "vile-tality."
Have you had a Bristol moment in your life?
-
Note: I received a copy of the book from Speakeasy for an honest review.
The change in official statement: From “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” to “submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life”
Video, Denominational Moderator responds: -- --
Video, Charles Wiley addresses a Fuller group on the changes:
I keep seeing these armored cars around town with the logo painted on: "The System is the Solution." I argue with them every time! Then after one such encounter, a radio preacher announced over my car radio "We have got to get back to preaching the gospel of moral absolutes!" I argued aloud (and with colorful words...on the way to church!) with that well-meaning brother (see Twinkies/Midrash:Dobson motivated by morality or gospel?)
...Gonna have to go back to reading books and talking on my cell phone while I'm driving; this is getting too dangerous(: !
On those two topics...the "system" and moral absolutes:
It felt contarian, subversive, unkosher...and completely right.
It was long after I came to Christ. But long before she read this book.
But let's piggy back on the book's title. and jump into the deep waters of post #7 on missional sacraments.
"missional churches will do well to realize that baptism is open to all who believe in Christ alone for salvation, is non-denominational in nature and may be administered by any Christian." -Igneous Quill
You know, I am amazed the only posts I see on "missional sacraments" on Google are mine. The phrase can't be that oxymoronic..or more timely.
Of course, all of life is sacramental (see Toni's post in the comments here) And all of life is missional. So maybe this is all too obvious.
Or obviously not. Or not obvious yet.
My seminary friend (and a fellow "mom"...uh, ask him about that), Talbot Davis posted a helpful and brave (in his circles) post on....well, his post title explains the controversy: In the UMC, it is officially unkosher to re-baptize..
Read his post below, and join the conversation (here, on the Facebook mirror... or there on his blog):
A METHODIST PREACHER"S CARDINAL SIN by Talbot Davis:
What is a cardinal sin for Methodist preachers?
Re-baptism.
It's one of the things that can get us in some ecclesiastical trouble. If we knowingly baptize someone who was baptized as an infant or child, we are likely to hear from Methodist higher ups.
The history behind the "rebaptism controversy" is quite long (you can read some here) and much broader than just the Methodist movement. Yet the driving distinction between those who re-baptize and those who don't revolves around who is the main actor in a baptism. Is baptism something God does or is it the volitional choice of the person being baptized?
Historically, Methodists have believed baptism is what God does -- so we don't "re-do" what God has already done.
Our Baptist friends, among others, contend that the person being baptized is the central figure in the sacrament -- that's why in their view an infant baptism is not valid. What infant can decide from himself or herself to follow Christ? So they will eagerly re-baptized people.
Yet as I have wrestled with the issue, two other items come to mind. First, baptism in the New Testament seems to be an exclusively "after" event: it is observed "after" a person comes to faith in Christ. (Yes, Acts 16:16 and 16:33 suggest "family wide" baptisms, but those references are imprecise at best.)
The bigger argument against a firm "no rebaptism" policy is Acts 19:1-7 which I include below:
1While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when[a] you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." 3So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied.
4Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5On hearing this, they were baptized into[b] the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues[c] and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all.
What does the story describe?
A re-baptism . . . because the converts did not fully comprehend the nature of their first baptism. Once they had received full teaching about Christ and his Holy Spirit, they received it with joy and were baptized into the faith. A volitional choice made after conversion.
Hmmmm. A biblical second baptism.
Infant baptism is certainly different that "John's baptism" (19:3) . . . yet both involve incomplete or absent knowledge & awareness.
And just like the converts in Acts 19, those who have been baptized as infants need to receive the urgent news of what Christ has done for them so they too can make a volitional choice for faith.
And after that? That's a matter for more prayer. And conversation.
Now, I too have pastored in the UMC, and know that the rule is not well-enforced. By the way, I was invited out (given the "right foot of fellowship") not for rebaptizing, but for a sin apparently far more unpardonable and cardinal:
suggesting that churches temporarily withhold money from their denomination until the denomination keeps its own rules.
And as one who also swims in an Anabaptist stream, i am obviously open to appropriate re-baptism (the very meaning of the term ana-baptism.) And just ask messianic Rabbi Adam about "re-baptism"...we need the rabbi to weigh in here!..unless we don't really want to be biblical (:
I was not re-baptized, or baptized as a believer, or by immersion, until after leaving the UMC. Then a "layperson" ...and a female, at that!....baptized me, not long after I baptized her.
I agree that some cases for re-baptism may be all wet. Who fully knows what they are getting into as they get into the water?
As a pastor who has baptized (often re-baptized) folks in the Jordan on every trip (and in this video clip below...and I have another clip from another year, in which Pastor Scott..who drives Toyotas.. roasted me for breaking church rules) I make to Israel....partly because the Jordan water somehow seems holier (There is almost a sign, "Jesus Swam Here"). But largely because there often comes a time when a believer feels its time to get their feet wet (Excellent teaching by Van Der Laan on the Jordan and baptism on DVD, short transcript here)
And if sacraments are intrinsically and inherently missional, who is to say that an infant baptism..or a baptism where we don't fully know what we're getting into (=all cases)...can't "count"?
I have never been comfortable with the title "reverend"...or any title, really. St. Paul (oops, Paul, the saint) didn't seem be either. We call him "The Apostle Paul," but though he was entitled to, he never called himself that: "Paul (comma), an apostle."
And with with dash or irony, I let folk call me "Just Dave," enjoying the double meaning..If I can admit I am "just" (as in 'righteous'...)
Anyway, my son had to snap this pic of
me by an "Over-Rev" sign..
..when i start acting too big for my britches; I'll look at it. I don't want to overly rev(erend)erential.
Note the clerical (Charlida bought me it on our last Israel trip) T-shirt I am wearing. (Yes, I often lead worship in that shirt.
Hey, This is not at all to judge how others operate and dress...some of my best friends are Revs, and Right Revs, even. Some of my favorite pastors and priests wear clerical garb, more power please, to them. And I will shock some of them that not long ago I wore this for a funeral:
That is not photoshopped! Read all about why I dared to don it.
Once a pastor friend needed a costume for a skit so they could look like a judge.....so they asked to borrow:
My black preaching robe.
I knew my life was about to change.
No wonder my dress is for sale on e-Bay... Read all about it:
MY DRESS FOR SALE ON E-BAY
BUSTED: FAKING THE "BIG ONE"
I had been busted.
Immediately plunged into crisis by a simple question.
I intuitively knew that my answer to the simple, straightforward question would change my life. But for the life of me, I had no clue what the answer would, could or should be. The question was innocent and innocuous enough, but any answer would inevitably undress and unveil me as guilty. And it was not a “yes or no” question, but an open essay question. I had to actually talk; I had major explaining to do. But I was numbfounded and nailed. And busted big time.
The practical, provocative question that the bold asker asked, with equal parts “This is so bizarre; I really need to know” look in his eyes, and “I’m not sure I want to know” fearful waver in his voice? Read on, but only if you can handle the truth and whole truth (so help you, God) about me. Hold your breath..and if possible, your judgement. And don’t call the cops on me…yet. The life-rearranging question at hand:
“Pastor, If you don’t mind my asking…
...Why are you wearing a ..... dress?”
Thud.
No, that was not my body thudding the floor (though it was tempted in that direction), but the involunatarily and (hopefully) inaudible thud- gulp of simultaneous terror and relief that anyone whose secret, addiction, or sin has just been unceremoniously uncovered recognizes. I attempted to match my questioner’s bravery by looking him squarely in the eye; knowing I couldn’t opt out or cop out with a “Hey, I’d love to answer that sometime soon, but right now….wouldn’t you know it, it’s the darndest thing….. I feel a heart attack coming on. In fact, it feels like the ‘Big One.’ Say, would you mind calling 911?”
Oddly, in the midst of all this frantic and futile nanosecond daydreaming of escape-scenarios, one of my immediate reactions was admiration for this man’s bold honesty in even asking. Not so oddly, another reaction was praying desperately for every fire alarm on the block to suddenly sound, or at least forJesus to come back. I knew I had no… good… answer. I nervously wiped my hand across my..uh, dress… and resigned myself to the inevitable: I had been outed. Confession time. I mustered all my inner reserves and resources; swallowed my pride and my earlier thud-gulp, and managed an initial:
“Uh…”
“Uh…well..,” My articulate non-answer uneloquently began. I made a fairly smooth (I hope) recovery; kept a reasonably straight and stoic (yeah, right!) face; though I knew I didn’t have anything to say to justify myself; to redeem my situation..or my incriminating clothes. Busted indeed.
PAUL HARVEY INTERVENES
But before you call the counselors or cops on me, hear out the “rest of the story.” Starting with the prequel; the gentlemen’s first question to me, as he shook my hand (and my world):
"Pastor, I loved the service...But I can ask one question?"
Like the holy fool (more on that moniker later) I was, I stupidly shot back a surefire “Sure!,” oblivious to the bomb about to drop.
Context: I had been doing the traditional pastoral "greeting everyone at the exit door" thing; like I had hundreds of times before; like thousands of pastors have done. You know: shaking hands with visitors, hugging the saints (sinners, too!), kissing
babies, passing out cigars (OK, just kidding on that one!) hearing quick confessions and the requisite "Great sermon, Pastor," ….like most mainline church pastors are “job-descriptioned” into. It was maybe 1993….many moons and wineskins ago... when I was happily pastoring as an "underground evangelical missionary" in a denomination that “overground” was mainline, mainly sidelined… and mainly apostate. Despite the challenges, part of what I really enjoyed about being such a stealth Jesus-preaching pastor in a largely derailed denomination (many of my peer pastors were preaching anything but Jesus….from an easily digested Reader'sDigestism to all-out outright worship of Sophia…if worship of anyone at all!), but because the "official" doctrine was solid, and because I was called to that particular tribe, I was able to stay; taking much-needed encouragement from Paul’s model for such ministry: "becoming all things to all people that I might save some."
STEALTH PASTOR
So, as much as I could in good conscience, I went native; in many, if not all, things related to church culture-custom. And some were saved. I acculturated myself into the mainline expectations and roles. For example, it was not technically required, but an unwritten expectation/”rule” in this tradition that most pastors worth their salt and seminary would wear pastoral robes or clerical collars; at least for “official” worship services. I was never comfortable submitting to the former (but did for my first few years, as I felt it was one of the “all things” that would help me gain a hearing..uh, job!), and only succumbed the latter once (That wild story in a minute!).
As with many of the oldline denominational adherents, folks in our denominational “family” would move from another state, and upon arriving in our city, simply look up the closest church of that tribe, and go to it, immediately joining it, no questions asked! No need to church shop or hop, you trusted the brand name; the company store. You even brought with you a "letter of transfer." As unwise and naive as that often was, it often sovereignly and serendipitously worked in our favor: people “accidentally” found Christ! People that had never tasted vibrant relationship with the Christ of Christianity, but had grown up in a congregation of our ‘brand name” (sometimes for four generations back) would trust a “transfer” and “lateral move” to our town and church; often experiencing conversion before they knew what/Who hit them! And because they trusted the "company message" , they often trusted Christ. After all, you are “supposed to" trust and obey what the "professionally trained clergy” says. I loved it when people would make an appointment with me (the officially “dressed” representative of God and “home office”) to talk about "getting my kid done" (baptized). When they came in, I didn't chew them out about trusting in a ritual to magically save their kid; I started where they were; and walked them through the (thoroughly evangelical) parental vows in the "official manual" for baptism, and was able to simply point them towards a more biblical view of, and relationship with, Jesus. It was rewarding stuff. Even if the right doors only opened for three wrong reasons: because I went to the right school, belonged to the right outfit…. AND wore the right outfit. Jesus, in Matthew 10:16 had asked us to be “sneaky as snakes and docile as doves.” So I dressed like a snake…uh, woman…uh, “professional “ pastor. But I was a dove inside.
Once I had a 92 year old trust Jesus in my office, when he heard of such a possibility for the first time (though he had attended that church for decades, perhaps since before I..or my parents..were born). I heard later that around twenty years before, he had felt that there might be "something he needed to do" to get right with God. He did what he was "supposed to do," he made an appointment with the pastor at the time, who dutifully told him "Don't worry about it, just join the church, and you will be fine." The pastor assured him that any talk he might have been hearing about "accepting Jesus" was huge hogwash! (the kind of wild-eyed fanaticism advocated by those churches and pastors who didn’t wear dresses). So what an honor to find that this man was still hungry for the “something more” It was beautiful. Oh, did I mention this was a premarital counseling appointment?! It was unspeakably cool and confirming to officiate the wedding of a new convert nonageneraian and his lovely and Jesus-loving (eighty-something ) bride…even if I did have to don the dreaded dress (the bride’s was far prettier!) for the ceremony. But it was worth it all to hear stories about the last few tears of this man’s married life, as age and Alzheimers crept in. It seems he would actually say things like "This is my wife..uh, what's your name, honey?....But let me tell you about Jesus!!". Husband and wife are both with Jesus now, and could it be that they might not be if I hadn’t… dressed right?
HE NEVER CAME BACK
I don’t know, but it’s time to get back to the prequel:
"So glad you felt at home.,” I assured the first-time visitor, whose turn in line was about to take a twist, and last a bit longer than the typical transaction….all because I added, “Sure, ask your question..(famous last word)..anything!"
"Okay.” He hesitated momentarily but spit it out. "Pastor….Why do you wear a dress?"
This is where you came in. Now you recall my thunderstruck thud.
But how could he NOT have asked? Unlike veteran mainliners who knew no other appropriate attire for a “preacher”, this pre-Christian seeker (refreshingly) had zero background with church and Christianese, let alone church culture cues, or dress codes thereof. Thus he honestly had no clue or construct about what to do with a robed preacher. The only possible word he had in his file for what I was wearing was “dress.” (Hey, it least it was my “color,” as the sweet church ladies always told me!).
So it was a legitimate and logical question. Actually, I have no full memory of the particular answer I fumbled and stumbled out. It must have been something like: “Oh, that! (Laughing) Gee, I realize how it could look like a dress; but hey, don’t worry! In our tradition, pastors often wear robes to….” How in the world did I finish that sentence?! I had no acceptable answer, and still don’t, at least acceptable to me. But thank God the good man seemed fairly satisfied with all that I said; at left least mostly convinced that I wasn’t a cross-dresser (Though I doubt he’d let me babysit his kids!).
But the sequel is telling: Even though he admitted loving the worship service that day (he seemed to really mean it, and I already had all kinds of hope for him encountering Christ among us), you guessed it:
He never came back.
Which is partly why my robe is on sale on EBay.
Soon after, I finally quit wearing a robe at that church, I just couldn't do it for a number of reasons. Primary among them was not “What do non-Christians think about guys wearing dresses?”, but gnotty theological problems I had wrestled with from day one of my days in the pastorate, and in the outfit. Note well that I had (and have) no problem with pastors who feel and dress differently than I now do, in fact they had better dress as they believe they are called. But for me, it would be a compromise, even a sin, to wear the old robe (even the one that was my color) on Sundays, and I would actually challenge all pastors and priests to consider prayerfully and carefully the message that the medium (robes) inescapably send. Again, “Some of my best friends wear robes,” and it is invigorating to see new life flood postmodern-sensitive churches are they blend old and new with meaningful liturgy..sometimes involving robes. One need not throw the wine out with wineskin; nor the robe with the vow to eschew “meaningless ritual.” Like Paul in Philippians 1:18, I must rejoice whenever and wherever Christ is preached..clothes of the preacher must ultimately be (pun intended) immaterial.
But I must live with myself…and I can’t myself live with a robe which was intentionally intended to communicate (against my will) that I am of a higher class/caste: a “clergy” who alone can authentically and apostolically teach the lowly “laypeople, ” as I am intrinsically and inherently (by virtue of my schooling and whose hands and “seal of approval” were laid on me) more “anointed.” I’ll never forget the shock of realizing what the colorfully red neckline represented on my pastor’s robe: I had been thinking all along it carried some neat theological connotation: blood of Jesus, Pentecost, whatever. Then I found out it was the “doctor’s bars” of academic robe! I just couldn’t wear something like that..in church. You can have more degrees than a summer day in Fresno, and still not be a servant- leader. My district superintendent, who helped assign “appointments” of pastors to churches, often (half)teased the pastors under his charge: “Just because you’re anointed doesn’t mean you’ll be appointed.” I won’t claim to belong to a higher class of Christian, just because I am a pastor. In fact the only “higher level” specifically promised Christian leaders (viaJames 3:1) is a “stricter judgement” !! And the word “layperson” comes from the original biblical Koine Greek “laos” which clearly means simply “people.” So for me to claim a title of “clergy” implies that I am of a higher class and genus than “people.” Hey, I am only people, too…pastoral calling and all: which of course was one of the Reformation’s trumpet calls a few hundred years ago. But ironically, the Reformation didn’t go far enough, in fact it perpetuated some of the problems embedded in the system it was trying to shed, and directly infected the infested system that “Protest-ants” have inherited today!!
“Reformer John Calvin determined he would NOT wear priestly robes,” Jim Rutz writes in “The Open Church”. “As a protest to the costumed pageantry of other clergy, he stuck to his business suit for even the most formal church occasions.” Sounds good and God-inspired so far? I think it was, and it’s pretty much what I did for the first few years of nonrobed preaching. Yet the clincher: “But alas, his followers through the ages have also worn a business suit—EXACT COPIES OF CALVIN”S BUSINESS SUIT. And thus today, when you see a Presbyterian minister in full regalia, you are looking at a sixteenth century Swiss Brooks Brothers boardroom special.”
For those wanting more powerful, provocative evidence of the often antithetical, at times pagan origins of many of the “sacred cows” of Protestantism (from pews to pulpits) , or church in general, start with the Rutz book just quoted, or the explosive online expose b y Gene Edwards, which lives up to its title: “Beyond Radical.”(Free online here).
SACRED COWS AND PROFANE TESTIMONIES
Sacred cows often make better burgers. But I don’t desire to be inordinately iconoclastic, or a rebel without a cause; or fall into the “Polo Shirts are the new robes” trap, or even to make a big deal about what on the surface appears a superficial and neutral issue..like clothes. Yet because clothes are literally surface issues, (that is, on the surface of my frame) and thus unavoidably visible, I cannot NOT consider the implications of what I wear. My clothes speak. I cannot not preach by what I wear. I am glad that most Sundays, I just wear what I want to; I am not intentionally and reactionarily sending or not sending a message…except the unspoken message to all us “laypeople”: it just may be alright with the Almighty if we chill out and wear what we want (within reason and season of course! I love the statement on our church website: “Dressing up is accepted, but not expected”..Anyway, here (is a photo revealing how I typically dress when I preach on Sundays (if I preach on Sundays at all, another shift in which cows are sacred) .
And it should suffice as evidence that I don’t necessarily think any pastor is in the wrong to wear a robe that mine is soon for sale on E-Bay..where some of you might actually buy it (take my robe…please!)…and even (gasp!) wear it to preach in! I didn’t burn it; right or wrong, I’m E-Baying it. Though I am fine with whatever use you want to put it to: Halloween costume, satirical skit (someone actually borrowed my robe once to play a judge…hmmm, there’s another wake-up call regarding what message a robe sends!), kindling. Be imaginative! But don’t imagine me wearing it again…
For some reason, though ( I hope its just nostalgia about the story I am about to tell), I haven’t been able to take my clerical collar off the mirror and into the trash..or onto E-Bay. I’ve already teased about telling about the day (one only) I wore it. Let me say upfront that it’s Harry’s fault! I probably wouldn't have done it for anyone else but Harry! I officiated his wedding, too ( in a suit, thank you very much! He didn't ask me to wear a dress, thank God!) On a more serious note, the story is this: Harry's brother lost his wife suddenly, and though the family were nominally Catholic, and actually had no church; there was the background and vestige of Catholicism so woven into the fabric of the family history that nothing would authenticate a funeral officiant more than a collared clergy. Sigh! I told my mouth to tell Harry “No,” but it came out a God-breathed “Yes.” All things to all people, the Lord reminded me…that some might be saved. I was honored to be asked to do the funeral, though it was a difficult one; she was too young.
Visiting with the family, and realizing that many of the friends that would be in attendance were not only nominally Catholic, but far from the church and Christ.. Reading the wife's journal, we found heartfelt and desperate prayers to Jesus for salvation, healing and guidance, It was enough for me to preach positively and hopefully about her God-relationship. So I felt better about officiating..collar and all. (I had to go out and buy one..finding of course the least conspicuous and least clergy-looking style available; connected to a light-blue shirt, of course). And yes, my “in the know” friends smiled (okay, “smirked”)at me as I entered the funeral home. But God worked in amazing ways at that service. Self-confessed drug-addicted, non-church folks, stood up and gave testimony (Often with colorful but heartfelt words) about what the deceased had meant to them. The Catholic relatives hung on my every word of grace and comfort. Don Secrest still laughs about howI even had everyone in the room pray..in unison, out loud, a prayer of leaning our lives on Jesus. I mean, that's what they were expecting, a "repeat after me " liturgy." And I couldn’t in good faith offer a “Hail Mary,”, so I created a downhome “Hey, Jesus” prayer. That’s right, I..and hopefully God through me..made one up, an honest one that seekers and sailors; doubters and drunks could say and pray with integrity as they tested and tiptoed their way towards the Christ their departed friend seem to know. Folk who wouldn’t darken the door of a church felt free to express themselves in profanity-laced testimonies to God and even to “accept Jesus”..partly because the officiating shepherd (who actually felt very sheepish in his get-up) wore a clerical collar ( to his conscience a veritable clown suit), and seemed the real deal. Go figure.
CLOWING FOR CHRIST'S SAKE
Clown suit, huh? But one man’s clown suit is another man’s lifeline. I can’t judge that; I might even preach in a literal clown suit (or worse..a dress! Does E-Bay let you buy back your own stuff!!) if God wills.
My neighbor when I was a teen, once asked his mom to buy him what some called a "gook jacket." It was what the cool ”rowdy” kids wore; a hooded sweatshirt. The funny thing is that my dad had somehow managed to buy and wear one; probably unaware that it was the hippest thing for teens; it was more likely a functional purchase. My dad was not one to embarrassingly dress “young” just to be hip with the kids, he was and is already just naturally cool.
"No! Never! You cannot have one of those jackets," his mother shot back. "That's what the crooks; the bad kids wear!"
But my swift friend did not relent; he took full advantage of the opportunity. He had a secret, and was about to go for the big guns.
"But Mom!," he protested, armed with his decidedly weighty argument: "But Mr. Wainscott wears one!" His mom had the shutdown comeback, however: "I don’t care if Mr. Wainscott wears a clown suit!! If Mr. Wainscott wears a clown suit, are you going to want one of those, too? The answer is no!
For me, wearing a "preaching robe" is the equivalent of a clown suit…or the dreaded dress my visiting parishioner mis(?)took it for. Again, I am all for pastors wearing such if God leads and needs. But I'd better be careful; there actually IS a "clown eucharist" service! No comment, but here's an actual photo and a live link)
...And I had better be as open and as stripped of preconceived dress codes as was Salvation Army founder William Booth. The story is told that many criticized Booth for dressing in military gear, and banging a drum, to attract attention to his outdoor preaching. He reportedly replied: “I’d stand on my head and bang a drum, if it meant one soul would come to Jesus!” I would like to be like Booth when I grow up! So I try to never say never…
Partly because I am attracted to being a..
“Holy Fool,” which is a wonderful tradition of the Eastern Church who periodically pops up here in the West. In the Russian tradition, some of the saints would do almost anything to avoid being perceived as saints. One of them kept offering to wrestle bears so people would think him a nut and not praise him as a saint. In the West, St. Philip Neri acted goofy, partly because he enjoyed being a goof and partly to throw people off the scent of his sanctity and keep them from gushing over him. When offered a cardinal's hat, he proceeded to play football with it. Currently, we saw something of the Holy Fool in Forrest Gump a few years ago. All such fools have one thing in common: they know they are not wise. Similarly, those who are convinced of their innate wisdom are invariably great ninnies. It's far better to be a fool for Christ than to be a fool on one's own. Today, thank God for the folly that is his wisdom.
Yet tough questions remain. If even the Salvation Army needs to address and redress (literally) the way it operates, so be it. All for the same motive of “whatever it takes!.” It could be that wearing an Army uniform,or a clerical collar, or a 1500s Swiss business suit only gets in the way of an effective explanation and demonstration of the gospel in this postmodern, postevangelical, post-Post-It note, postpost (yada) age. And it also may be that the Lord will prompt even me to wear one or more (hopefully not all at once!)of the above if a soul is at stake. I’d like to even believe I’d dress in that “dress again”, for Christ’s sake…even for Harry’s sake. But until then, color me in jeans (maybe Dockers), a polo shirt and sneakers.. And color me quite cautious about anything more formal or freaky, I’m fine in my polo shirt.. until and unless that becomes a new “robe”. Agonizingly, anything can become idolatrous and adulterous. Even though Paul warns well not to get up in arguments over neutral things, and None less than Jesus commands “Don’t worry about what you wear!” (Love to see that verse…Matthew 6:25.. on the front door of churches! Hope I’m not too sarcastic and faithless when I say “That’ll be the day!”). But do you know the apparent reason that “dressing up” for church (not just by the clergy) was encouraged? Gene Edwards and James Rutz fill in some blanks again:
Quote:
Why did Christians start dressing up to go to church? If you've ever yanked a tie tightly around your sweaty neck on a hot, steaming day-or ouched your way to church in a pair of not-quite-fitting high heels, you may have said to yourself, "I'd sure like to meet the dirty dog who invented these things ... in a dark alley." Actually, you're probably under the impression that dressing up for church is a godly custom designed to show our respect for the Lord. It's not. While showing respect for God is always good, that's just not the historical reason for shined shoes, fresh shirts, and attention to style. Nor do we dress to impress each other-although many people do find it uplifting to be among well-turned-out friends. History is a little fuzzy on this, but as near as anyone can tell, the real reason for our Sunday splendor is so that we'll look good if we happen to run into Emperor Constantine or his aristocratic friends! Chances for that are not high these days, but originally that was the reason. Constantine and other heavy hitters had a habit of popping up in several of the church buildings he paid for. And when big cathedrals sprang up much later, with European royalty in attendance, the impetus to dress up grew further. Fancy church buildings were the one place that royalty mixed with commoners. Cathedrals, such as those at St. Denis, attracted royalty from all over, and it simply wouldn't do to bump into a prince or contessa in your grubby work clothes. These are just historical observations, of course. I wouldn't be so foolish as to question the advisability of an ages-old custom like dressing up for church. If snappy clothing brings you closer to God, helps you deal humbly with sin in your life, lets you relax and get your eyes on Christ while feeling closer to your brothers and sisters in church, why, I'm all for it. In fact, maybe I'll join you ... just as soon as I can locate my Christian Dior cravat and Yves Saint Laurent silk suit. link
And how about that collar sequestered on my mirror?
Quote:
The clerical "backwards collar" deserves to be awarded a small note here. At one brief point in European history, every man who could afford a suit had a shirt or two with a reverse collar. It was simply the style du jour. Eventually, however, it went the way of all styles, and no one wore it any more-except, that is, for the clergy. Being perpetually underpaid, ministers and missionaries have never been noted for up-to-the-minute fashions. And in this particular case, they continued to wear the now-venerable reverse collar simply because they didn't have the money to refurbish their wardrobes with newer shirts. link
I am picky about the pictures of me that appear on our website. For example, many nice photos have been taken of me in a tie, but you won’t see any on our site; it would send the wrong message about me, and the typical tone of our people’s dress. As far as I know, no photos are floating around online of me in my“old days” preacher robe (No, Dad, don’t post one). The closest thing I have to an actual photo from that era is this abstract Picasso-esque gem that Shawn Rabon painted of me while I was preaching robe and all. (I thought he was taking copious sermon notes, turns out he was instead inspired to doodle this masterpiece!).
REFORMATIONS, DNA AND PREACHING NAKED
Because at one church I served, we had four worship services (with accompanying degrees of formality/informality) there even was a timee where on Sunday mornings I had more costume changes than Cher. (Though I never had a “wardrobe malfunction" like Janet Jackson, I may have came close as I scurried out of the dressing room). I’d like to say I’d do it again in a hartbeat if it felt like a God-thing. Because I know it’s not about clothes. But if Wolfgang Simson is half-right (and I believe the case that he is even understated here is strong)….:
In rediscovering the gospel of salvation by faith and grace alone, Luther started to reform the Church through a reformation of theology. In the 18th century through movements like the Moravians there was a recovery of a new intimacy with God, which led to a reformation of spirituality, the Second Reformation. Now God is touching the wineskins themselves, initiating a Third Reformation, a reformation of structure. link
…then we should not be surprised if God Himself is orchestrating “structural changes” (including large scale “costume changes” that informalize a lot of clergy) that facilite us being more sensitive to, and Spiritanously open to, the fact that, as Simson says “life..and thus church..is informal.” .
There is an anecdote, perhaps anecdotal (that I can’t find right now) about a former U.S president…probably Hoover or Truman (or someone else with a sly and dry sense of humor) who wanted to prove to a friend visiting the White House that visitors at “meet and greet” photo-op receptions were typically so taken with the glitz and hype of the White House that the ten-second of each to “meet and greet” the president was so unreal and rote that he as president could say anything to the person in line he was shaking hands with, and it wouldn’t register. This was a time when the president’s mother was known to be ill, so many greeters as they shook the president’s hand asked “How’s your mother, Mr. President?”, out of nervousness or just to have something polite to say. So the president whispered to his friend, “Watch this, to the third person who asks me how my mother is, I’ll say “She died this morning,” and they’ll say something like “That’s wonderful, Mr. President,” as they smile for the picture and move on. It worked!
I occasionally felt during those years of “meet and great” at the White House..uh,whorehouse...uh, I mean local church…I mean greeting the line of parishioners at the door… as wonderful as it was, was also at times nothing less than an encouragement for them and me to lie. “How are you?” The answer was usually (supposed to be) “ Fine” whether or not the person had diarrhea, demons, disease or death coming against them.
I still love to greet folks on Sundays…but we are working hard about building informality, honesty and real relationship into our family DNA..including such conversations…We linger, mingle, often as a whole group for extended individual prayer, sharing, or lunch. And though sometimes we still war those masks, at least I am not wearing the robe that would keep me looking too super-human to confess that I..even the “pastor” may feel like crap today.
I know radical transparency calls for wisdom and balance. See “Real Live Preacher’s” helpful article here, which I call “How much of your pastor do you want to see?”; also Tim Keel’s “Naked in the Pulpit: Preaching as an Act of Imtimacy” .(safe click, don’t worry, no pictures(:
God DID ask Isaiah to preach naked for a few years, though...I am afraid to pray if THAT is God's will for me. (: And I can't not pray the classic 77s song that got them censored.
Someone once said about my father-in law, a Christian leader that “he is so transparent that his underwear shows.” That was a compliment, but I will NOT be preaching/mingling in my underwear…or a formal dress. For me, the polo shirt is symbolic of the balance.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In conclusion, if the (then) young man who first asked me the paradigm-busting, million dollar question that day that changed my life and rocked my world into where it is now, is out there reading:
1)Sorry, you never came back to church. If the dress was the isuue, come on back. I’m safe (though a bit more slovenly) now.
2)”Thanks” is not adequate. This whole new ride I am on, and the delightfully risky, emerging wineskin I am drinking from is wonderful beyond my wildest dreams. God is personal and profound to me like never before. It’s partly your fault! Bless you!
And a working conclusion about this “wearing a robe” thing:
1 .I can’t imagine doing it. (They are itchy, make it hard to take a bathroom break, and make me feel like an unholy pompous fool. I want to be “just Dave.” ).
2. Besides this more persona, stylistic, emotive reason, I have too many theological reticences about what a robe communicates.
3. I am cool with other pastors doing it, but I don’t think I could ever recommend it.
4. It’s not just about looking to some like I’m wearing a dress. I am hopefully secure enough in my masculinity to don one again, if God (and maybe Harry) so speaks…
a)But it better be writing in the sky.
b)If so, I just hope He speaks about me wearing one that IS my color.(: Where is that E-Bay page, anyway?
me by an "Over-Rev" sign..
is a photo revealing how I typically dress when I preach on Sundays (if I preach on Sundays at all, another shift in which cows are sacred) .