“[Jesus said,] ‘They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.'” – Matthew 23:5
Some of my stoles have fringes.
Some do not.
I can’t say that the fringes
influence my choice of stole
for Sunday worship.
“Does the color match the season,
or the day (or can I tell myself
it matches) Sunday morn?”
And though I’ve heard
from colleagues once or twice,
“Why wear a stole to worship
in these islands?”
still I move the hangers
on the valet rod each week
to place upon my neck
the cloth cascade of color,
which may, or may not, terminate in fringe.
I take the best seat in the room.
I’m greeted by my title in the shops.
I stand where you can see me
in the sanctuary or on screen.
And pray – so deeply pray –
not to be worthy of the call
(who could be, and who ever was?)
but to be modest in the call
and stand aside so that a greater light
may shine, illuminating greater things
than me.
A poem/prayer based on Matthew 23:1-12, the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel Reading for Year A, Proper 26 (31).
Photo by Eric Anderson.
ordainedgeek 
To be modest in the call… Lord in your Mercy…hear our prayer.
Amen.
Thank you for personalizing this. I’ve been struggling with it and leading All Saints Day next week end.
We observed All Saints last weekend, as you know from the story I told. It was a lot easier to preach on the death of Moses for All Saints than I imagine it will be on long fringes.
That said, it took me some years to read this text and realize that I’d better read it as a religious leader subject to the same kind of temptations and the same kind of criticisms. Heaven knows what errors I made before coming to that understanding – and heaven only knows what errors I’ve made since!
When we apply the text to ourselves, as you and Maren do so well, what insights emerge, like that prayer at the end of the poem that I want to share, not only as priest but as poet and performer. It’s such a balancing act between cleansing humility and a facilitating confidence in the gifts God has enabled in us.