wfn.org | Commentary: Clergy collar serves as around-the-clock calling card

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April 6, 1999  News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{187}

A UMNS Commentary
By The Rev. Charles Wiggins*

While I was a seminary student at Boston University, several of my
professors -- the ones I most respected and admired -- wore clerical collars
all the time. I was serving a church while in school, and both my bishop,
Herbert Skeete, and my district superintendent, the Rev. Quan Lee, also wore
clerical collars all the time. 

I noticed that wherever these men and women went, their obvious clerical
calling affected both language and behavior of those around them. It should
come as no surprise then, that on Sundays at least, I also wore a clerical
collar. It rapidly became apparent that when I wore clerical clothes, not
only did it change the language and behavior of those I was around, but it
also changed mine.

When I was ordained a deacon in 1990, I began to wear clerical clothes all
the time. Coming as I did from a rather sordid and sinful past, I discovered
that wearing my calling in such obvious fashion forced my own accountability
to my new life choice -- something I needed then and continue to need now.
My old habits, which included things like cursing at referees, were
decidedly repressed by the example I was forced to set. 

There were and are pragmatic reasons as well. For example, it is much easier
to get into a hospital intensive care unit without being challenged, and it
is not necessary for me 
to dress in the latest styles, which in itself is a financial boon.

Since my deacon's ordination nine years ago, I have never been in public
except in clerical clothes. This has made me the object of both curiosity
and ridicule by strangers and colleagues alike. Some have misinterpreted my
choice of dress as conceit or a holier-than-thou attitude. I have been
called pompous and worse. In reality, the collar and cross remind me
constantly of whom I serve and keep me humble and accountable at all times.

If I ever had any real doubts about dressing the way I do, they were
dispelled forever one spring day in Charlotte, N.C. I was in town to perform
a wedding for my best friend, and as I was leaving my room at the hotel the
day before the wedding, I smiled and spoke to two maids who were in the hall
as I passed by. When I returned to my room after lunch, I found the
following note on the night stand (and I offer it exactly as it was
written):

"Good morning again. My name is ____ ____ you're housekeeper. If I may take
a minute of you're time, I need you're advice and blessing. I'm having my
first child and haven't been to church in a while cause of work. And I've
sinned since this pregnancy by drinking. Just sometimes I slips. Is their
some kind of blessing or scriptures you could share with me to clean my
sinns and have an healthy baby and life. If you come to an suggestion, I'm
on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors all day. Thank you, _____ _____."

I searched until I found her, and sitting beside a vacuum cleaner on an
unmade bed, we read Scriptures and prayed together. I don't know what
ultimately happened to her and her baby, but I know that I was blessed just
by being there for her. She would never have left the note if I had been
wearing a suit and tie. 

If only for her and those like her, I will always wear a collar and cross.

# # #

*Wiggins is pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Rogers, Ark. This
column originally appeared in the Arkansas United Methodist newspaper.

Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily
represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church.

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