Out here in the Wild West, the amalgamation of cultures is a fascinating phenomenon. Most of Lutheranism is transplanted Midwestern, so many of those biases come with folks when they relocate.

I wear a clerical every day and am, from my observation, the only member of the clergy in Phoenix who does so. It is very rare for me to encounter another collared person during the week, even in a hospital. So, why do I wear one daily? My younger brother tells me that my image of the Office is frozen in 1960 and he may be right. I wear the "uniform" to keep my own focus as to what I am called to do. Being raised in the Roman Church, it is just the way clergy dress.

My one accommodation to the wild west is that I often wear khaki pants with my black shirt...we are more laid back out here in the Diaspora, after all.

At my midwestern ELCA seminary, we're encouraged to have them and wear them, but not exclusively. Since clergy shirts can be received positively or negatively, you have to experiment in your context to see whether they open more doors than they close. I don't know what other seminaries are like, though.

Hi Seminarian--I notice you post quite a lot. We have a seminarian department in the print journal. Are you interested in contributing? (Or, perhaps, do I already know you?)

Why is the clergy shirt a compelling argument against the ordination of women?

Anecdotally, here in the Midwest (Wisconsin) the clergy shirt doesn't function in the way you describe. Many pastors choose not to wear a collar, preferring instead a wide array of other options, from ties, to business casual, to total casual. But a good # of clergy do wear them, often or at least especially on Sunday morning, at other worship services, to the hospital, etc.

I don't wear mine all the time or consistently, but I do wear them often. Kids often ask me what it means or why I wear it. I say it's like wearing a police uniform or nursing scrubs.

I have never ever had it inspire suspicion rather than welcome. It usually is very comforting to people I visit in the hospital or nursing home. They immediately know who I am and what my role is when I enter the room. I'd be interested to hear if other midwesterners differ in their perceptions on this from me...

Also, one upping our friend from Phoenix, I almost always wear my collar with jeans. I own a fair trade "safari cut" shirt from Florida that I often wear in the summer, regular collars in winter under pretty much anything, like polar fleece or a Norwegian sweater.

But now we're out of the realm of symbol and straight into STYLE! :)

As a concluding anecdote, a friend of mine who is a German Lutheran missionary in Abakan Russia mentioned that all the priests (Russian Orthodox) near him cut their plastic collars from used laundry detergent bottles and insert them into their shirts.

In PA Va Hospitals after 9/11, the question was raised should chaplains wear a military uniform with a cross, Star Of David,etc. or should they wear a Roman Collar. The Roman collar was unanimously chosen as a universally recognized sign of Clergy.

I am wrapping up my first year in a first call in a midwestern, suburban Chicago congregation, and I continue to have an ambivalent relationship to the clergy shirt. As an Associate, I get to postpone making up my mind on the matter since there is a certain practical wisdom in imitating the Senior, who wears her collar always on Sundays and occasionally during the week for visits, funerals, etc. But eventually I'll have to make some sort of fashion commitment for my own reasons.

To call the clergy shirt and its clerical collar a symbol is already to elevate the conversation beyond practical arguments--that it's simply a uniform for pastors, helps strangers to recognize a clergyperson in a crowd, prevents laity from getting distracted by the minister's fashion choices (like an alb in worship), and so forth--and into the theological realm where Lutherans, of course, have rather diverse understandings when it comes to the office of the ministry and, in particular, ordination. I tend to be on the "lower" end of the spectrum in that debate, since I don't see the tasks entrusted to me of administering the means of grace as attaching to me, altering my being, in any peculiar way, and am especially cautious against conveying that I am a member of a distinct religious class apart from the rest of the people of God. Hence, I wear a clergy shirt only uncomfortably and I think only for practical reasons.

In a denomination suffering from decline-anxiety and where pastors live with a palpable sense of their diminishing influence, I also believe there is a special danger in leaning too heavily on symbols of authority like the collar. Too often I see other young leaders using it as a prop that betrays underlying doubts about the power and efficacy of the Word coming from our mouths. It feels like people aren't listening or don't take us seriously, so we try to prop up the Word with a bit of plastic and maybe some desperate apologetic about the holy office. It doesn't work. The Evangelists record that Jesus "spoke with authority"; whether he "dressed with authority" wasn't worth mentioning because the message carried power in itself.

I agree with Sarah that much of the clergy shirt issue is contextual, and it seems to me that a pastor's responsibility is to deduce whether wearing one among a particular people helps or hinders them in recognizing the authority of the Word (offered through, but distinct from, the messenger). Some are more prone to locating authority in charisma and also through very real, lingering prejudices, and a clergy shirt might do a little something to temper that. Others are so tradition dependent that a pairing back of traditional authority symbols might redirect the focus to the Source of life.

Finally, as a midwesterner, I should note that we have considerable fashion diversity just in this region. My head is still spinning a bit in making the move from the synods of the Twin Cities and Northwest Minnesota (predominantly casual, just wear a sweater) to Metro Chicago (black is in this season, every season). It's a generalization, but Luther Seminary folks tend to roll their eyes at clerical symbols, while I get the vague impression that LSTC (seminarians in particular) wear their clergy shirts to sleep.

I've worn one when doing pulpit supply, and on some hospital visits. What I have noticed is that people tend to treat me differently, i.e, they seem more willing to approach me to discuss things about the church, and about God, that are on their minds. For this reason I see it as a useful tool to represent the whole church. I can see the danger, however, it using it as a crutch for authority.