Thank You, Jesus!

This Palm Sunday, in the midst of feeling pathetic and full of self-pity, I received the best compliment ever from a stranger.

The new church where CWM meets has a tradition of gathering with the other neighborhood churches for Palm Sunday. Together they parade into the town square led by a donkey borrowed from the Heifer Project (a la Jesus entering Jerusalem) and pray for the city. This was my first year participating and I was slightly nervous about the tone of the whole shindig. I was feeling particular pus-y (read like oozing with pus...no, it's not missing another "s") because I showed up way overly dressed for the occasion with my black suit, clerical collar and purple stole. Despite the instructions I had received from others, all the clergy (except for me) showed up in normal street garb...no collar, no stole, no nothing. I stuck out like a sore thumb!

After the service ended I was standing around waiting like magnet for press and for those who had no idea women could be clergy. In Boston, whenever I wear my collar I inevitably get comments from shocked bystanders who never cease to be amazed that I could be both female and clergy. (Though, there are some who can't put those two together and end up referring to me as "Father." No kidding.) As I waited for the questions, a really well-dressed, well-put-together, attractive, cool woman came up and grabbed my arm saying, "It is so good to see another foxy pastor woman!"

Foxy pastor woman! Excellent!

It turns out she too is clergy serving a local non-profit in the area. We laughed and lamented together about the sad, sorry state of clergywomen's fashion. I may have blogged about this in the past, but in general, when women become clergy there is some irrational, insane impulse that drives them to dress in one of two ways:

1. Androgynously Asexual: Imagine bland, polyester suits, sensible shoes like your father wore circa 1965, short hair, and a gain of at least 50 pounds if not more to hide any feminine curves that might appear.
   
2. Sickingly "Sweet": Imagine sweaters with kittens playing with a ball of yarn that dangles from the front or amorphous denim jumpers adorned only with some tacky, over the top dreamcatcher with feathers and beads (meant for one's home, not one's chest). Again, the weight gain, bad hair and plain shoes are requisite to the uniform.

Either type is known by the term "frumpy pastor woman." God help the woman who looks like a woman in the pulpit!! The Church's inability to deal with sexuality has led to this masking of women's bodies and very beings. You can't be both sexual (and of course, according to the Church, to be woman is to be inherently sexual) and a pastor (despite the fact that male pastors showcase their wives and children on a regular basis in local congregations...no sex involved there!).

There is nothing that pisses me off more than when women allow themselves to be co-opted by the patriarchy of the ecclesial institution to hide their bodies and sexuality. Before I became clergy I dressed, well, like someone who might appear on What Not To Wear or Extreme Makeover. It was only my utter hatred (and really, hatred is not too strong a word) of the frumpy (non)woman that compelled me to dress better. It is my goal in life never to succumb to the asexual image of so many of my colleagues. So, you can imagine how refreshing and exciting it was to hear someone affirm my ability to rise above the frumpiness fray and be classified as "foxy!"

Foxy, indeed!

NOTE: I am not alone in my quest for clerical style. Rev. Victoria Weinstein maintains a blog for her fashion-challenged colleagues over at Peacebang's Beauty Tips for Ministers.