Advent Vestments

By the time I knew I would be ordained to sacramental ministry, I knew that most vestments did not fit me well. They got caught in my wheels, dragged on the floor, and slipped all over the place. My great hope was that if I was called to minister in a parish, that someone there would be willing to make vestments that fit me. I though it would be a hope in vain.

That hope has been fulfilled, without my even asking. A parishioner by the name of Gail Forrest has been building my collection of chasubles and stoles designed to fit me and my usual position - sitting in my chair. They are designed to stick in place. They don't get caught on anything.

And they're beautiful.

Take a minute and take a look. All the stitching is done by hand, uncountable hours of work.

I will keep adding photos as my closet gets more full. Look for white and gold around Christmas.

The front:



The back:


The stole:

Rowan Williams on Truth and Humility

"But there is a proper kind of humility which, even as we proclaim our conviction of truth, even as we Christians proclaim that all human beings are called to union with God the Father in Jesus Christ by the gift and power of the Spirit, obliges us to acknowledge with respect the depth and richness of another’s devotion to and obedience to what they have received as truth. As we learn that kind of respect for each other, we remember that we have none of us received the whole truth as God knows it; we all have things to learn. And it is that expectant and positive attitude to our mutual encounter that makes the relation between passionately convinced Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, whatever else, finally a gift and not a threat to a thoroughly contemporary and plural society and its hopes for coherence, justice and peace."

Read the rest here.

Anyone else reading between the lines here? Is Rowan offering, through comments on civil society, a proposal for the church?