Uniform

Last April Bill and I were driving home from Pittsburgh, where our granddaughter celebrated her 2nd birthday.  We stopped at Sheetz to get gas and breakfast.  Sheetz is a great place to get fast food (if that isn't an oxymoron).  It was early in the morning and the building was full of uniforms.  It was odd, first I saw the tell-tale signs of one of the religious communities that are so much part of PA.  Men in black hats with wide brims, a small curl sticking out from underneath those hats, simple clothes, made from simple patterns, probably hand sewn denim. No buggy, not sure what sect, but you can see them frequently in rural PA.  Then there were several men in red shirts, with some gas company logo on the breast pocket.  Sheetz has their own distinctive uniform too.  Then there was a State Police officer, and a delivery man, both in their own uniforms.  I suppose one could say that Bill and I were in the uniforms of weary travelers - sloppy, comfy - but no, that was just us.

Later I went, in uniform, to  the installation service of the new pastor at First Churches in Northampton.  I sent a message to find out what the dress code for participants was.  The answer was funny. . . apparently my non-Episcopal friends were joking around that if there were to be a contest for the best dressed, the Episcopalians would win!  So much for our  Church uniform, sounds like envy to me! 

What is the uniform of a Christian? 

Some might refer to the whole armor of God from Ephesians 6:10-17.  But seriously are you ready for the breastplate of righteousness and the belt of truth around your waist?  I had a professor in seminary who did not believe in wearing the cross around our necks, for he felt it was an instrument of capital punishment.  Episcopal monks and nuns use their habits as a uniform.   While Roman Catholic nuns were shedding their habits, Episcopal nuns were taking them on as a proud statement of identity.  Clergy sometimes joke about driving in a collar - do we drive the same in and out of uniform?

This Sunday we will join with 5 other congregations, again at First Churches for a wild celebration of ecumenism with Diana Butler Bass as our preacher.  I have been amused at all of the discussions on what to wear.  What is it that our uniform says?  While one choir wants to wear their robes another does not.  While some want to process others think it is too formal.  

Funny how our identity is tied to our uniforms.  I make no statement regarding the value, or lack- there-of when it comes to uniforms.  But what does a progressive Christian look like?