Black or White

Posted by Pastor Beatty (user1) on Nov 02 2007 at 3:37 AM

I'm glad that more Protestants are beginning to value the importance of vestments.  The abandoning of them in some circles (baptists and presbyterians) had more to do with a reaction to Roman Catholicism than it did biblical precedent. 

After all, throughout Scripture we find a close connection between clothing and calling.  When a person is invested with an office he wears a garment to idenitify his office.  This is stil the case with police officers, doctors, soldiers, etc., so why not pastors when they are serving in their official capactiy during the worship service?  By wearing vestments, the man conducting the service reminds us that it's not just our friend Bob up there behind the pulpit or table, but an official minister of the church representing the Lord while leading the congregation in worship.

Now, if you accept that conclusion, the next question should be what color should the pastor wear?  Unfortunately, now days those who do wear vestments tend to either wear an academic gown, which is more properly the attire of a proffessor, or either a black robe, which is more fitting for a judge.  By contrast, in the Bible the faithful are usually attired in white robes.  Not only is the symbolism more appropriate, but as you can see from this picture of Jeff Meyers, it looks better too!         

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