The First Baptist Church of Granada Hills

            Those careers that are part of what may broadly be construed as the “service sector” often involve some means of identification.  Policemen sport badges, salesclerks wear tee-shirts of a particular color, waiters don aprons, and nurses wear scrubs.  The idea is that such telltale signs allow the proverbial “man on the street” to identify these people and seek out their assistance—whether that takes the form of a refill of one’s soda or lawful intervention in some transpiring crime. 

            Traditionally clergymen have also worn some token of their profession.  In times past most ministers wore large robes, called cassocks, to identify themselves as representatives of the Church.  Today cassocks are still worn by some clergymen, but their use is rather limited to the most formal of settings and to the most formalistic of ministers.  In contrast, the clerical collar has enjoyed a significantly wider and longer lasting use among pastors.  By way of example, a clerical collar is still a fairly common symbol of the ministry in popular culture and can be seen sported by such divergent figures as the Rev. Timothy Lovejoy of the animated comedy The Simpsons, the mysterious Preacher from Clint Eastwood’s gritty Western Pale Rider, the Rev. Graham Hess from M. Night Shyamalan’s sci-fi thriller Signs, and the mild mannered Pastor Alden of the classic family drama Little House on the Prairie.

            Some may wonder though why pastors would want to distinguish themselves at all.  Why would one advertise his “spiritual credentials”, especially in light of the temptation to pride that such a practice can entail?  Jesus Himself even seems to have decried this very thing—special clothes and titles for ministers—as demonstrated by passages such as Matthew 23… or did He?  

            When one looks to Jesus’ words concerning the ministers of His own time, one finds His distinctive use of didactic hyperbole (cp. Matthew 5:29-30, 17:20; Luke 14:26).  This interpretation is necessary for otherwise the God-ordained uniform for the priests of the Old Testament (Exodus 28:1-2) and the willingness of New Testament authors to refer to themselves and others by the title “leader” (Hebrews 13:7) and even “father” (1 Corinthians 4:15) would be rather difficult to explain.  And if this is the case, then we can see that Jesus didn’t so much condemn the Pharisees’ externals as the discontinuity between their outward presentation and their inward disposition.  That is, Jesus’ objection to the Pharisees seems to be that while they were willing to “lengthen their tassels” and “broaden their phylacteries”—the rough equivalent of wearing a clerical collar in their day—they also “devour[ed] widows’ houses”, and while they placed mountains of religious obligations on their listeners backs, they were themselves “unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.” 

            Jesus’ critique of the Pharisees is aptly summed up Matthew 23:25 and 28: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.” And, “you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”  Jesus’ main concern then was not with attire and titles at all, but with a lack of consistency.  A cup which shines forth in its cleanliness on the outside is not a bad thing, but it is certainly a deceptive and useless thing if its inside is covered with filth.

            But even so, are there any benefits to wearing a clerical collar?  Or, with an eye towards Paul’s words to the Corinthians, even though such a practice may be permissible, is it helpful? 

            From personal experience, the answer is an unequivocal “yes”.

            First, it’s traditional and fun.  The world is simply a more interesting place when people dress like what they are, whether they happen to be plumbers, chefs, dentists, or clergymen.

            Additionally, a collar advertises to everyone (including the minister himself) what he is and, more importantly, for Whom he stands.  A good example of this occurred at a ministerial prayer meeting in which I participated a while back: 25 pastors from a variety of evangelical denominations were praying for our city and our churches and I was by far the youngest person present (I’m in my twenties and most of the other pastors had either grey hair or bald heads).  And yet, when a woman wandered in off the street looking for prayer, she panned across the room, saw me, and remarked, “Oh, a collar, you must be someone important.”  In a room full of much more distinguished, much more experienced men, she approached me because I was the only one “flying the flag”.

            This kind of recognition is particularly helpful during hospital visits and the like.  In my own ministry I have found that a collar allows me access to patients that are “off-limits” even to their own families. 

            The collar is also something of a conversation starter which lends itself very nicely to evangelism.  On one occasion I stopped in at a grocery store on my way home from a meeting and while I was standing in line, silently holding a twelve-pack of Coke, the cashier leaned over to the bagger and whispered, “I need to go back to church.” 

            Of course, Christ’s words still stand.  A good show on the outside means nothing unless it is accompanied by faithfulness, virtue, and humility on the inside; this is something no Christian, ordained or lay, ought to forget.  But as a minister I would encourage my fellow pastors to consider wearing a clerical collar in certain, appropriate situations.  Who knows, your congregation may enjoy it and I’m sure that Lifeway (which sells clericals) would appreciate the business.

            The Church is an institution.   And like all institutions it has a certain way of doing things.  For those who have attended a church for any length of time, many of its idiosyncrasies fade from awareness, hiding in plain sight.  And yet, every now and then, it’s appropriate and helpful to ask why a church does what it does.  Why do churches generally adorn their buildings with crosses?  Why do churches tend to arrange their seating facing forward towards a single point of focus?  Why do the prayers said in the midst of church services generally end with the words “… in Jesus’ name, amen”?

            One of the most widely received (and yet dimly recognized) hallmarks of the local church is its penchant for convening on Sunday morning.  There are, of course, congregations that meet on Wednesday and others that gather on Friday night, but by and large most Christians do their explicit, corporate worshipping on Sunday.  Why?  Why this day and not Saturday, the Sabbath indicated in the Old Testament, a day that was declared holy and on which the Jews of Jesus’ time gathered for services in the synagogues?

            To understand the reasons for Christianity’s preference for Sunday over the Sabbath (Saturday) one needs to have at least some understanding of the Sabbath in its Biblical context.  Originally, the Sabbath was largely intended to be a social institution, not a religious one.  The earliest references to the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 16:23 & 20:8-11) indicate that it was to be a day of rest from work that was enjoyed by all people—from the richest of the rich to the poorest of the poor.  As such the Sabbath served as a leveler reminding the Israelites that even the most destitute of people possessed dignity and were worthy respect, and in this particular instance respect took the form of leisure time.

            On a seemingly unrelated point, prior to the year 586 B.C., the only divinely authorized religious center among the Israelites was the Temple in Jerusalem. It was at the Temple that people offered their sacrifices to God and where they tended to locate His presence in some vague sense.  Since there was only one Temple and many people desirous to avail themselves of its services, it operated all week long, even enjoying a special dispensation from the Lord allowing its priests to perform their religious duties on the day of rest (Matthew 12:5). 

            But when the bulk of the Hebrews were dragged away into exile in Babylon, they were separated from the Temple and thus could no longer offer their sacrifices.  As a result, a number of notable rabbis came to the conclusion that if one simply could not sacrifice animals to God, prayer and study of the Torah would have to suffice as a surrogate.  Thus, slowly, the synagogue system came into being and proliferated throughout the Jewish community in exile.  When the Babylonian exile ended and the Jews returned home, they brought the synagogue system with them, now placing it alongside the Temple as a part of their religious devotion.  And while the Temple once again operated throughout the week, the busyness of everyday life essentially ensured that large communities of believers would congregate at the synagogue when they had the time, that is, on the Sabbath.

            When in the fullness of time God sent His Son, Jesus, to live and die and live again for our salvation, Christ brought the Law to its proper conclusion: all the symbols and ideas which the Law conveyed to the Hebrews found their consummation in the person and work of Jesus.  As the Apostle Paul wrote, “No one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a new moon or a festival or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17).  As such, the specific legal strictures of the Mosaic Law no longer had any authority over the people of God.  If a man was so inclined he could eat pork, wear garments of mixed fabrics, not be circumcised, and even exert himself on Saturday.  In fact, the Bible has some rather harsh words for those who felt obligated to obey the Old Testament Law as part and parcel of their devotion to God. (Galatians 3:10; 4:10-11)  As a result of this newfound freedom, the faithful properly understood that the necessity of Sabbath observance had been done away with and thus the honor given to Saturday among the Jewish people as both a day of rest and, ever since the Exile, a day of devotion began to fade within the Church. 

            In place of a rather wooden devotion to the Sabbath it seems that very early on Christians began to gather on Sunday morning as a way to commemorate Jesus’ victory over the grave which had take place on this day.  Paul spoke to a body of believers on Sunday in the book of Acts (20:7) and later he urged the Corinthian Christians to gather money for missions work on the first day of the week (again, Sunday), presumably within the context of a worship service.

            This policy of meeting for worship on Sunday in honor of the Lord’s resurrection continued beyond the Apostolic age, being found in the extra-biblical writings of early Christians.  Ignatius of Antioch wrote a series of letters at around AD 100 in which he stated, “those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death.” (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians [Shorter Version], Chapters 9)  This same idea is also found in a document entitled the Epistle of Barnabas (again, written at around AD 100) which declares, “we Christians keep the eighth day for joy, on which also Jesus arose from the dead” (15:9).  The “eighth day” here is no doubt the day after the seventh (Saturday) which would make it the first (Sunday) as this was the day on which Christ rose from the dead.

            That’s it; no devious plan of some half-converted Roman emperor, no diabolical scheme to separate the Church from the will of God, just faithful Christians choosing to remember Jesus’ triumph over death week after week.  This was the tradition handed down from the Apostles to the early Church and this is the tradition that the early Church has handed down to us.  So the next time you enter a church on Sunday, smile, for Jesus is risen!