The Clerical Collar - To Wear or Not To Wear

One of the many decisions facing a Probationer Presbyter in the UK Methodist Church as they enter their first Circuit appointment is the question of when to wear a clerical collar.  Some choose to wear one all the time, except possibly for days off and family occasions, whilst others only wear them whilst leading worship or chairing church meetings etc.  There are also shades in between.

Influenced, I admit, by several Presbyters I know, I had decided that after wearing my clerical collar almost continuously so that people in the community would know that I was their new Methodist Minister, so that they would recognise me if they wanted to talk to me in future, I then reverted to wearing it only when taking church services or chairing church meetings.  That had been the well thought out decision I had made whilst still training at Wesley Study Centre, where such matters were occasionally a topic of conversation.

This has continued to be my practice until last week, though I have been thinking about whether I should wear the clerical collar more often for some time; having read a blog post that suggested Church Ministers should wear their collars all the time, both as a visible symbol to all of personal faith in Christ and of servanthood to our Lord; and so that people know you are a Minister and can come to you if they need help.  One comment on the blog expressed concern that Ministers seemed to be almost embarrassed to wear their clerical collars in public.

Last week I was in Ilkley, not my normal stomping ground though a part of our Methodist Circuit, and just happened to be wearing my clerical collar.  A young man approached me, obviously struggling to make ends meet (and, it turned out, homeless), and asked me if I could buy him a bus ticket so he could get to Leeds to see social services for help.  I took him to the bus station, put him on a bus and paid for his ticket.  Had I not been wearing my clerical collar I doubt that he would have approached me for help.

A few weeks before I was visiting Leeds General Infirmary, again wearing a clerical collar, and had two different conversations that otherwise would not have taken place.

Some have suggested that the clerical collar may be a barrier to some, but after several encounters over the past few months I’m not convinced of this.

So, after nearly four years of limited wearing of the clerical collar I have now decided, in the light of challenge and experience, to do a complete about face and wear it anytime I leave home – apart from my day off.  It will be interesting to see what, if anything, it leads to.

Human Frailty and the Inexhaustible Grace of God.....

John 21: 1-19

Of all the resurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples the account of his appearance to some of his disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee is perhaps the one I can relate to the most.  It is the most human of the accounts and it isn’t hard for us to understand how those disciples must have been feeling and to relate their experience to our own human experience.  We can relate to those disciples, and perhaps especially Peter, in all their human frailty.  It is an account, too, that shows us the magnitude and reach of the inexhaustible grace of God.

The very fact that these seven disciples were out on the Sea of Galilee fishing shows us their humanity.  We know from Matthew’s gospel that Jesus had told them to leave Jerusalem and go to Galilee to meet him there.  They had done so, and whilst waiting for the Lord to appear to them they did what came naturally to them; they went fishing.

Some Christians have seen this as a negative act.  Jesus had called Peter and Andrew, and James and John from the life of a fisherman.  “Follow me” he had said, “And I will make you fish for people.”  What were they doing, 

back on the lake, trying to catch fish?”

I remember that when I started training for Ministry I made a few visits back to the Library I worked in, partly to catch up with friends I had worked with and partly because I missed the job I had done.  I was absolutely committed to my call to ordained ministry in the Methodist Church and yet I still felt a little bit drawn back to my previous life.

It must have been much the same for those disciples.  This account does not represent a desire to abandon Jesus and return to their old lives.  They were absolutely committed to following Jesus and to carrying out the mission Jesus had given to them; but whilst they were waiting, on the shores of the lake where they had worked for so many years, the urge to catch fish for what I think they all instinctively knew would be the last time, proved too strong.  Peter said, “I am going fishing” and the others said, “We will come with you.”  It was a spur of the moment decision made by men who were already in Galilee waiting to meet their risen Lord.

Sometimes in our lives we can be nostalgic for the past, drawn to the things we sued to do in our lives.  Sometimes as church people we can look back to what we think of as the glory days of our church; when there were two services and church was full every week and there was a thriving Sunday School and preachers who really knew how to preach and that brilliant Minister we had …..  There is nothing wrong with those cherished memories, they are a part of who were are, but we must not allow the past to get in the way of where God is leading and calling us now; both individually and as a church.

So they went fishing and despite being out all night they caught nothing.  As they returned to shore, almost certainly at the first signs of dawn, they saw Jesus on the beach; or rather they saw a man on the beach who they didn’t recognise in the dim early morning light.

On discovering they hadn’t caught anything Jesus told them, “Throw your net out on the right side of the boat, and you will catch some.”  They did so and caught a huge amount of fish, filling their net to bursting.

This must have brought to mind similar words of Jesus when he first called them to be his disciples.  In Luke 5 we read of Peter failing to catch any fish and of Jesus telling him, “Push the boat out further, to the deep water, and you and your partners let down your nets for a catch.”  Peter and his partners did so and caught so many fish that the net nearly tore.  James and John were amongst those who witnessed this.

Surely it was a repeat of this miracle that caused John to say to Peter, “It is the Lord.”  Surely it was the repeat of the miracle that made Peter realise John was right and then, in typical Peter fashion, leap out of the boat and wade to the shore so that he could be the first to meet Jesus.  Peter’s eagerness to be close to his Lord does him credit and it’s an eagerness we too should have as Christian disciples.

Jesus has prepared breakfast for them, bread and fish; the same food he fed five thousand people with.  Let me say that again! Jesus has prepared breakfast for them.  This is more evidence for the physical reality of the resurrection I spoke about on Easter Day.  Visions and hallucinations and inner spiritual feelings don’t give advice to fishermen and they certainly don’t cook breakfast for them and join them in eating that breakfast.

After the breakfast we come to the heart of this encounter, the reason for Jesus appearing to them on this occasion; to restore Peter to his status as an apostle and to commission him for service in Christ’s name.  This was not because Jesus hadn’t already forgiven Peter, but because Jesus knew that Peter needed to know that he was forgiven and to forgive himself.

We know that Jesus had forgiven Peter because he was with the other disciples when Jesus came to them and said, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.”  Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  Peter was one of those commissioned by Jesus, he was one of those who Jesus breathed on.  Such is the abundant and inexhaustible grace of God, such is the desire of God to forgive, that Jesus had already forgiven Peter.

We know that Jesus had forgiven Peter because he shared bread and fish with him as he did with the other disciples.  Table fellowship was significant in the time of Jesus.  If you shared a meal with somebody it meant that you were in fellowship with them.

It seems that Peter had not quite understood or accepted that he was forgiven.

In his own eyes Peter had failed Jesus badly.  As Jesus was being tried by the Jewish authorities Peter had denied three times that he even knew him.  Luke’s gospel gives us perhaps the hardest hitting account:

Another man insisted strongly, “There isn’t any doubt that this man was with Jesus, because he also is a Galilean!”

But Peter answered, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about!”

At once, whilst he was still speaking, a cock crowed.  The Lord turned round and looked straight at Peter.

We can only begin to imagine how wretched Peter must have felt when he denied knowing Jesus.  Wretched, distressed, ashamed…. words are probably inadequate to describe how Peter felt when the Lord looked straight at him.  He had denied even knowing the man he had promised just a few hours before; “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you and die with you.”

Those feelings would not have gone away.  They would still have been in Peter’s mind as he sat eating breakfast with Jesus and his other companions.

Guilt is a funny thing.  Sometimes, when we know we have done something wrong, something that has maybe hurt others or had drastic consequences, we too find it hard to forgive ourselves.  We go over the event in our minds weeks, months or even years later.  God has long forgiven us, yet we cannot quite forgive ourselves; the guilt and shame is still there.

Sometimes we find it easier to forgive others than it is to forgive ourselves!

Sometimes we find it hard to believe that God could possibly forgive us for something we’ve done in the past; despite the fact that we long ago confessed and repented of that wrong.  God forgives any and all wrongdoing if we confess and repent: Jesus died on the cross that we might be forgiven.  His words as they crucified him remind us of this, “Forgive them, Father.”

Just as we sometimes struggle with believing in Gods infinite grace, in believing that God really has forgiven us; so too did Peter and so Jesus did what he needed to so that Peter could understand that forgiveness and accept it, accepted that he had indeed repented because he had changed.

Three times Peter had denied Jesus, and so three times Jesus asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  Twice Peter replied, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.”  The third time, sad because Jesus had asked him a third time, Peter replied, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!”

Peter’s answers demonstrate his repentance.  Peter is now a long way from the cocky, overconfident man he had been; the man who had bragged, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you and to die with you!”

Now Peter simply and honestly states the truth; “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”  It is a statement that is true: Peter indeed loves Jesus and he knows that Jesus knows it.

William Barclay nails this on the head when he comments, “Jesus, in his gracious forgiveness, gave Peter the chance to wipe out the memory of the threefold denial by a threefold declaration of love.”

When we are still feeling guilty about something we have done, something that we know we have genuinely confessed and repented of, then we know we can let go of any guilt that remains because we can know that God has forgiven us and that God loves us.  When Jesus asks us “Do you love me?” we can honestly reply, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Mixed in with Peter’s assurance that Jesus has indeed forgiven him is what has been called “Peter’s Commissioning”.  Each time Peter says that he loves him Jesus asks him to take care of his sheep.

Much has been made of the fact that the first time Jesus said “take care of my lambs” but Jesus is simply commissioning Peter to take care of all those who will follow him, both young and old.  Peter was the first leader of the early church and here Jesus was commissioning him for that very task.

There is an underlying principle here for us all, though.  We show our love for Jesus by loving others.  As the Apostle John wrote in his first epistle, “My children, our love should not just be words and talk; it must be true love that shows itself in action.”

Indeed, it needs to be a love so strong that we are willing to suffer for the sake of Jesus and perhaps to give our very lives for him.  This is exactly what Jesus told Peter would happen to him.  “when you are old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will bind you and take you where you don’t want to go.”  After telling Peter this, he said, “Follow me!”

Peter did indeed follow Jesus, eventually following him to the cross because Peter too was crucified in Rome.

Jesus loves us as he loved Peter, each and every one of us.  Through Jesus God graciously forgives all our sins, no matter how bad they might seem to us, and continues to love us for eternity.  He says to us, as he said to Peter, “follow me” with all the implications of that call.

Jesus says to you, here, right now, “Follow me!”