NEWS FEATURE: Whatever the Attire, Religious Leaders Choose Their Wardrobes With Care

c. 2000 Religion News Service MOBILE, Ala. _ The Rev. James Cleondis wouldn’t dare wear jeans for worship. But the Rev. Mike Woods can’t imagine wearing anything else _ especially during mild south Alabama winters _ when he leads his congregation. For Rabbi Steve Silberman, Shabbat services require a suit and tie, yarmulke and prayer […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

MOBILE, Ala. _ The Rev. James Cleondis wouldn’t dare wear jeans for worship.

But the Rev. Mike Woods can’t imagine wearing anything else _ especially during mild south Alabama winters _ when he leads his congregation.


For Rabbi Steve Silberman, Shabbat services require a suit and tie, yarmulke and prayer shawl.

Not one of them chooses his wardrobe lightly.

Instead, each selects his garments for reasons theological and historical, philosophical and traditional. Layered in liturgical vestments or not, clergy members wear their spirituality on their sleeves.

For Cleondis, pastor of Mobile’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Sunday fashion is rooted in the words of the prophet Ezekiel, the psalms of David, the prayers of Moses. As he pulls on garments of satin and silk, raiment embroidered with gold thread and encrusted with jewels, he prays: “My soul rejoices in the Lord; he has dressed me in the garment of salvation and put upon me the vestment of joy.”

The motivation for such attire is twofold: Liturgical dress speaks to the “otherness” of God and removes any emphasis on clergy members’ personal attire.

The philosophy makes sense to the Rev. Sid Batts, who typically wears an academic robe and a stole, or long scarf, when he leads worship at Government Street Presbyterian Church.

“(John) Calvin, our theological father, thought robes were important because it presented a sameness every week so that the listeners weren’t distracted by the clothes of the preacher,” Batts said. “For me, it really means that we’re in worship, this is important. I wear a different hat in this arena than anywhere else.

“I like it, and I like the idea that it’s not distracting.”

Indeed, Batts said his worship attire helps him focus as well. Comparing his vesting to that of a football player, Batts said he puts on his “game face” when he dons his robe and stole.

It’s a face Michael Adams, pastor of Mobile’s Rehoboth Community Church, said he tries to wear at all times.


“The respect I’m giving to God is not a Sunday thing,” Adams said. “It should be an all-week thing. I should be giving him the respect on a Friday that I’m giving him on a Sunday.”

Such thinking leads Adams to wear casual everyday clothing _ slacks and a button-down shirt _ for services.

Adams said he believes such attire makes worshippers more comfortable.

“I do feel people need to be able to come and just participate in what God is doing,” Adams said. “I do think that God _ he knows us _ he’s looking at our heart and not necessarily what we have on.”

Woods, who wears jeans in the winter and shorts in the summer at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, shares Adams’ philosophy.

“I think it does hopefully put some people at ease,” Woods said of casual dress. “It sets me on a socioeconomic level with a lot of the population.”

Most importantly, he said, he hopes that his clothing conveys his theology: “Come as you are and you’ll be loved.”


Those who garb themselves more formally would hardly disagree. “The internal vesture is more important than the external vesture,” said the Most Rev. Oscar H. Lipscomb, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile.

Even so, Lipscomb’s wardrobe includes some of the most elaborate liturgical garments in the Port City, and he rarely leaves the chancery without at least a Roman collar around his neck.

“It’s a public profession of an inner commitment and availability on the part of those who have said, `I will try to be Christ to the people around me,”’ Lipscomb said. “The distinctive garb is not so much a matter of distinction as it is an offer of that kind of availability.”

When he celebrates Mass, Lipscomb, like Cleondis, cloaks himself in garment after garment rich with symbolism. With almost every item, a specific prayer is offered, thereby helping clergy members prepare themselves for worship.

“We go in clothing that befits the seriousness, the joy, the memorability of such a moment,” Lipscomb said.

Likewise, Silberman said occasion determines his worship wardrobe. “The primary issue for me is to be tastefully dressed so that the dignity of the service is maintained,” said Silberman, who often leads worship at Congregation Ahavas Chesed in a suit and tie. “I only wear a robe on a high holiday.”


He does so then, he said, “to indicate that those days are exceptional,”

he said. “There’s a mystique about it.”

Wearing a robe for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur puts him in a particular mood, he said, which he hopes is then conveyed to members.

For the most part, however, dress conveys the democratic nature of the Jewish community, Silberman said.

“Traditionally within Judaism there’s no distinction made between clergy and laity,” he said. “The prayer shawl is worn for precisely that reason: to very visually demonstrate that all people over the age of bar/bat mitzvah are equal. The tallit is like a prayer uniform. And everyone in the synagogue dons this garment in order to develop a sense of cohesiveness as well as concentration.”

Similarly in Islam, imam and adherent alike cover their heads with a prayer cap; women traditionally use a scarf.

The head “should be covered with a consciousness that God is in control of all affairs, and we should be dutiful in how we deliver his word,” said Ronald Ali, imam at Mobile Masjid of Al-Islam.

“It’s a reminder for me to be extra careful in delivering my duty,” he said of the cap that is worn during worship and other times of prayer. “It’s a conscious reminder.”


KRE END CAMPBELL

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