Have you ever wondered why David, or whoever is taking the service, dresses in clothes that would certainly raise eyebrows if anyone wore them in the street, or when shopping in Migros? After all, God is interested in our hearts, and not our clothes, and Jesus befriended outcasts and beggars, who presumably did not dress expensively either!
Of course God accepts us when we wear T-shirts and old jeans. But our response to God involves offering everything that we have - and that implies offering the best that we have. So we worship in our "Sunday best" when we can. In the case of the people who lead worship, "Sunday best" goes beyond smart suits to something even more special.
Religious behaviour is notoriously conservative. If you doubt this, consider the resistance people have to using "normal English" in the Lord's Prayer. Many people are happier addressing God as "thou", or asking forgiveness of their "trespasses", even though the latter word was so archaic that even the King James (or Authorized) Version of the Bible four hundred years ago uses "sins"! So it is no surprise that some of the vestments we use date back to formal dress in the Roman empire.
As a basic garment, ministers taking the service wear a long black cloak (violet if they are a bishop) called a cassock. As far back as the year 572 we find instructions to clergy to wear these, in contrast to the shorter tunics which had become fashionable! And at the Reformation, clergy were forbidden to go out in public "in their doublet and hose without coats or cassocks"!
At Morning Prayer, the minister wears a white linen surplice over the cassock. This was a sort of under-tunic worn by everyone in earlier times. It has wide sleeves, because in the colder parts of Europe it was worn over a fur coat or cassock (the name means "over fur").
With the surplice, the officiant at Morning and Evening Prayer may wear a hood (though David Low, our Lay Reader, wears a scarf.) They are a relic of academic dress, and remind us that the clergy have undergone training for the ministry they perform.
For the Eucharist, however, instead of a surplice, the celebrant normally wears a closer-fitting linen garment, It is called an alb, and is fastened at the waist with a rope girdle. "Alb" means white, and the whiteness symbolises purity (not necessarily of the celebrant, but of Christ’s own giving of himself for us). And round the neck, the celebrant has a long strip of silk, called a stole.
Stoles vary in colour according to the season or festival - white for great feasts such as Christmas or Easter, red to remind us of the Holy Spirit’s tongues of fire, or of the blood of the martyrs, purple for penitence and for the times of preparation - Lent and Advent, green for "normal" seasons.
Lastly the celebrant at the Eucharist wears a chasuble. This is a large coat-like vestment, also in the colour of the day. It goes back to the outdoor cloak which men and women wore in Roman times. In the past it was more like a tent, but today it would certainly not keep the autumn breezes out!
Strange dress and strange customs can distract us from our worship. But if we go behind the strangeness and look at the way the tradition has been handed down through the centuries, we can feel our own solidarity with the Christians of past centuries, meeting Sunday after Sunday to share their needs and to join together in their praises and thanksgiving. Let us remember when we come to church how closely we are bound together, not only with Christians all around us, but also with God's family from past ages. It is with them that we share our praises.
HD