A Weekly Word - What Are You Wearing, Pastor?

 


This Sunday, September 4, is the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

This week’s sermon is Blessed

This week’s readings are:

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Philemon 1-21

Luke 14:25-35

Psalm 1

 

Message: What Are You Wearing, Pastor?

 

1.     What does a pastor wear?

a.      Modern – just about anything

                                                    i.     Informal - Jeans and t-shirts

                                                  ii.     Dress Casual

                                                iii.     Formal - Suit and tie

                                                iv.     Traditional – vestments

1.     From the Latin “to clothe.”

2.     So … clothes.

b.     Denomination

                                                    i.     Liturgical

                                                  ii.     Non-liturgical

2.     Why do Lutheran pastors wear robes and stoles and all that other stuff?

a.      Put on your uniform.

                                                    i.     Recognized

                                                  ii.     Sign of his office

b.     Biblical Tradition

                                                    i.     Exodus 28 – “And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.”

1.     Beautiful, colorful, symbolic.

                                                  ii.     Same idea

1.     Beautiful – aesthetic matters.

2.     Colorful – ads symbolism

3.     Symbolic – The purpose of the clothing is to proclaim Jesus.

3.     So, let’s look at some clergy clothing.

a.      Clerical collar.

b.     Alb – baptism!

c.      Cassock and Surplice

d.     Stoles – seasonal colors

                                                    i.     Green – Life and growth (Time of Christ and Epiphany)

                                                  ii.     Blue – Royalty (Advent)

                                                iii.     Purple – Royalty and sorrow (Lent)

                                                iv.     White – Holiness (Christmas, Easter, Trinity Sunday)

                                                  v.     Red – The Holy Spirit (Pentecost, Confirmation, Ordination, Reformation)

4.     Does the pastor have to wear those things?

a.      No, but …

b.     Colossians 2:16-17 - Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

c.      A danger of extremes.

d.     Keep the focus where it belongs … on Jesus.

 

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