A Pastoral Concern regarding Vestments

Just recently, Good Shepherd received a shipment of chasubles and accompanying vestments and paraments to adorn our worship.  They are a generous gift from a member whose name I am choosing not to include in this post.  We will dedicate them to the glory of the Lord in an upcoming service, and we will begin using them on Easter Sunday.

While the chasuble is a vestment that is new to Good Shepherd, it is hardly new to the Christian Church, or to the Lutheran Church in particular.  As with anything new, fears and skepticism are to be expected.  Fear and skepticism of novelties in the church are healthy.  We do not want to be swept away by popular fads or, much worse, by poor theology and practice.  This article hopes to alleviate the fears and skepticism.

The first fear to lay to rest is that a chasuble is a Roman Catholic vestment.  It is true that it is used in Roman Catholic masses, but that does not make a chasuble a promotion of Roman Catholicism any more than candles, altars, or stained glass.  The difference between the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church has to do with doctrine and practice, not vestments.  In fact, the early Lutherans emphasized that they did not divest themselves of many practices they had received from the Roman Catholic Church.  Consider this from the Augsburg Confession:

"Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among us, and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, save that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns, which have been added to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed to this end alone that the unlearned be taught [what they need to know of Christ]" (Augsburg Confession, Article XXIV, paragraphs 1-4)  (Source: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/#ac-xxiv-0001 )

(If anyone wants the long answer about the differences between Roman Catholicism and Evangelical Lutheranism, go here: BookOfConcord.org · The Original Home of the Book of Concord.)

So, the Lutherans retained a great deal from the heritage of the church catholic because we did not invent new church.  Lutherans contend that we retain the holy, catholic, and apostolic faith in both doctrine and practice.  That includes the vestments which the church had used for generations.  It was the radical reformers who abandoned vestments for street clothes in an effort to downplay the office of the holy ministry.  

The purpose of vestments is to hide the man who is serving in the stead and by the command of Jesus Christ.  No one challenges a police officer because he looks different from one previously seen.  We see the uniform and we recognize the authority that goes with it.  The uniform hides the individual because the authority does not come from the individual.  It is in the office.  

So it is with the holy ministry.  Vestments hide the individual and highlight the office because the authority does not rest with the individual, but with the office.  Individual pastors will come and go.  None of them is immortal.  When a pastor leaves or dies, the office of the ministry does not go with him.  The congregation calls a new pastor.  He may be taller or shorter.  He may have thick, wavy hair or be bald.  He may be young or old.  None of these characteristics changes the office in which he serves.  The vestments show that the authority to preach, teach, and administer the sacraments continues even though the individual minister changes.

The chasuble is a vestment usually worn by the pastor who presides at the altar and consecrates the elements for Holy Communion.  It simply declares, "This is the man who has been set apart to preside over Holy Communion."  Assisting ministers would be vested differently.  There is no other mysterious significance than that (not to my knowledge, anyway).

Vestments are a matter of Christian freedom.  No one would suggest that your salvation is dependent upon whether or not the pastor wears a chasuble.  There is no command from Jesus about clerical garb, so there is freedom in what is worn.  In our WELS circles, we tend to emphasize our freedom to NOT do something more than our freedom to enjoy doing these things.  The impression is given that doing them is wrong and not doing them is a staunch defense of the Christian faith.  This is simply bad catechesis, and it ends up denying that such things are free.  

While our Lord never commanded his ministers how they were to present themselves in the New Testament Church, he had a LOT to say about the way the priests were to be vested in the Old Testament.  Exodus 28 and 39 are highly detailed.  They suggest that God likes vestments.  God could have refrained from extravagance when he gave these commands to Moses.  After all, the Israelites were going to be wondering in the wilderness for forty years and worshiping in a tent.  But he did not go for cheap, easy, or "practical."  He commanded Moses to make these garments "for beauty and for glory" (Exodus 28:2; the ESV expresses this quite literally).  

While some places will not enjoy lavish vestments because of their limited means, that does not mean we limit ourselves when we have the means to do better.  We aim "for beauty and for glory" because it makes a confession.  We believe that we are in God's presence, that we are handling holy things, and that this is worthy of our best efforts.  

Just as we care about the appearance and the maintenance of our building, so also we care about the Divine Services that are conducted in it.  We want to give our best to our Lord.  We want our services, our rites, and our ceremonies to confess the true, Christian (catholic -- small "c") faith.  We want things done "for beauty and for glory."  I pray that these new vestments will convey exactly that.