UU Faith with Daniel Schlorff

Lifespan Faith Development for children, youth, adults, families and senior adults 

February 2010

R.E.spect, by Daniel Schlorff, Director of Religious Education at USNH

What Not to Wear

Have you ever wondered why people who work in religious organizations dress the way they do?  Believe it or not, there is a pecking order established in religious work.  A person’s place in that order, as well as time of year and theology, can be seen through reading liturgical vestments (and the lack thereof).

You may have noticed that Marion, Kathleen wear some kind of vestment on Sundays.  Two things that I share with these individuals include our call to some kind of ministry to a congregation and our preparation towards ministry through earning a theological degree at a UU seminary.  In contrast to my colleagues’ dress, mine has been secular.  There is a reason, and there will be occasional exceptions where I “backslide” into traditional use of sacred vestments.  I’ve consulted with Marion and Kathleen, and we’d like to share with you our reasons for dressing the way we do on Sundays. 

Marion and Kathleen’s liturgical vestments are traditions established by early Christendom and then adapted by the pilgrims in the New World.  Both Marion and Kathleen wear the stole over both shoulders.  This indicates their standing in our denomination as an ordained or authorized minister in all Unitarian Universalist Congregations. 

To “robe” or not to robe still remains a question.  Marion frequently wears a preacher’s robe, which is an early American adaptation of European Christian vestments popular with trinitarian and Unitarian Congregationalists.  The preacher’s robe is at once a sign of tradition and the rejection of any authority that the Churches of Rome or England had over the new world—the customary “robe” being either an alb (a white, hooded robe often seen on monks or newly baptized Christians) or cassock.  Marion explains:

My reasons for choosing the robe I wear is not theological but personal and cultural.  As a UU minister who sometimes officiates at weddings and memorial services of those who are not Unitarian Universalists I chose a robe that in our culture says, ordained minister.  I also chose it because it is traditional garb and I've found that the more traditionally one dresses the more one is able to get away with radical ideas.

Kathleen sometimes opts for the preacher’s stole, but she more frequently chooses to wear “the chasuble,” which is a round cloth that is normally worn  over the stole and alb when the Eucharist is celebrated.  Normally, the alb is the bottom layer over the clothes.  Over the alb is the stole, then the chasuble covers the stole.  Kathleen wears the stole over the chasuble and excludes the alb.  She says:

I've never had any robe other than a chasuble, and I chose it because it seemed to me more graceful in appearance than the full-body robe and more suited to a woman's smaller frame. And I wear whatever stole goes with my mood and the outfit under the chasuble. Sorry for there being no higher meaning than that but it's the truth!

Additionally, Barb, my predecessor and Interim DRE, wore a black gown, without additional academic regalia or liturgical vestments.  The absence of a stole worn over both shoulders indicates that his function in UU congregations is not as a general minister but as a specialist in religious education.  Similarly, I do not wear the stole over both shoulders, rather a tie.  I do not normally wear a robe, alb or cassock, though an alb and sash await their first use in my office.  So, what gives?  For starters, wearing a suit and tie is a theological declaration of my identity as a religious humanist.  The suit and tie is the traditional “vestment” for humanists who identify as male. 

Though as a humanist, I choose to vest in secular business attire, my primary language of religious expression follows the calendar of traditional Christianity.  Therefore, on three occasions this Spring, you will see me wear traditional liturgical vestments.  On Wednesday, Feb 17, I will wear my vestments to lead an Ash Wednesday service sponsored by Family and Intergenerational R.E. (FIRE) to help raise money for the Guest at Your Table project of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. 

If you would like to preview these items, take a look in my office.  On display are a white alb, rope cincture to be tied around my waist (representing allegiance and sometimes also certain sacrifices), and a sash to hang over one shoulder (sometimes called a deacon’s stole).  This is the traditional vestment for those who are fulfilling a religious vocation such as mine, yet are not ordained or authorized by their denomination as general ministers.  Soon thereafter, I will wear the same vestments for the FIRE Maundy Thursday foot-washing service, and again on Eastern Sunday during the first part of the regular worship service.

Color adds another layer of complexity to the grammar of liturgical Christian vestments.  In keeping with liturgical time, I will likely wear purple for Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, but I will wear my white “celebration” sash on Easter Sunday.  Keeping liturgical time for me is a personal practice that helps me feel connected to thousands of years of tradition, though I realize color and cut of fabric has little meaning for most people at USNH.  I do not expect my humanist friends to follow my Christian vernacular, nor do I seek an end to the use of vestments in UU congregations.  On the contrary, vestments are longstanding symbols of religious vocation that I affirm even when I do not wear them, and Unitarian Universalist vestments will always be as diverse as the ordained and lay-ministers’ personal theologies and functions in the congregation. 

For more updated writing, see my blog: UUFaith.

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