First Time Kilted at Church

[Barry]

I too wore my kilt (Black Stuart) to church for the first time last Sunday. I have moved during the Summer and so this is a 'new' church for me. Its a Baptist church and I have viited several previous Sundays in conventional attire.

The reactions I received this Sunday were all positive. One chap said "That's just right for this weather" (It was sunny). Another was disappointed that I did not have a sporran with me. Many of the ladies expressed their delight and one said "Oh, I do like a man in a kilt"

Och, I walked home 10ft tall!

Happy kilting

[Freelander Sporrano]

I too wore my kilt (Black Stuart) to church for the first time last Sunday. I have moved during the Summer and so this is a 'new' church for me. Its a Baptist church and I have viited several previous Sundays in conventional attire.

The reactions I received this Sunday were all positive. One chap said "That's just right for this weather" (It was sunny). Another was disappointed that I did not have a sporran with me. Many of the ladies expressed their delight and one said "Oh, I do like a man in a kilt"

Och, I walked home 10ft tall!

Happy kilting

EEeek wot!!! No Sporran..........(Faints)......Just the sporran maker in me...

Church is the first place I started with kilt wearing. It just felt a safe place to start when I was unsure. I hadn't dicovered Xmarks at that time ...Oh how time fly's
I also felt 10 feet tall when first kilted . I still feel that way too. I have however stopped noticing peoples looks and stares that my wifes Dept. even she wonders what people are looking at at times.

[jfellrath]

Pastor? You're sounding more evangelical than Catholic. Our episcopal equivalent (Anglican Church of Canada) uses the term "rector". In England, I believe they use vicar. Could the American church use "pastor"?

jkdesq - Actually, we've always called the head resident priest of a church "pastor" in the Catholic churches to which I've been. I heard "rector" when I was at Notre Dame as a name for the priest or brother who was in charge of a residence hall. Vicar, as far as I know, is only used in romance novels. ;)

I honestly don't know what the Episcopal Church calls "pastors" - that's not a subject my wife and I have broached yet.

Graham - thanks for the comments. I was gratified and a bit surprised at the reception I got, too, but it was definitely nice!

[Prester John]

Just FYI

The traditional usages of ecclesiastical terms (this is from me, not a dictionary)

Rector - priest in charge of a parish
Vicar - someone, usually a priest, representing the person in charge (usually the bishop - especially for parishes where the priest is not permanent)

Father - a spiritual father of someone (as St. Paul refers to himself in the NT) Not always ordained, some monks are called father by their spiritual children, esp. in the Orthodox tradition.

Pastor - a clergyman with pastoral oversight of a parish. Not equal in responsibility to rector, but a "minister" without a parish is not a pastor (i.e. the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Duplantis, etc. - not a slam, just the fact)

Reverend - an adjective, as in "The Reverend Mr. soandso" Saying "Rev. Bill" is a borrowing of title from the adjective, not grammatically correct, but a tradition in Methodist Churches, among others.

Minister - anyone who ministers to others.

There are others, I'm sure I don't know all the new ones.

If I have offended, it was not intentional, and if this post has to be removed, I apologize.

[yoippari]

My church is an evangelical non denominational one and we just call the lead pastor Barry. He has never, or at least not to my knowlege, gone by pastor or any other title, though his title would be pastor. We have another pastor but he I think focuses more on small groups, only rarely giving a sermon.

[jkdesq]

Hey Prester,

I don't really see anything that could cause offense (unlike perhaps my own post). The only thing I would question is the idea that there is any consistency among the demonations about how to use these terms. The Orthodox Church might use terms in one way, Anglican another, Catholic yet another. Use by Evangelicals will vary from group to group and church to church.

My daugther was baptized in the Church of England (ie. in England) by a Vicar who was "in charge of the parish". The Rector (ie. the guy in charge of our parish--he is also a Dean but I have no idea what the means) at my church in Canada claims that Rector, within the Anglican Communion, is the same as Vicar, just that the title vicar has never crossed the Atlantic. "Vicar" is still are real term and is not confined to Jan Austin, yet.

I was raised by Fundies in an evangelical chuch that used "preacher" until I was about 12 and used "pastor" after that. The explaination I received the word "pastor" was that it means "shepard". All "clergy" at the numerous fundamentalist churches (baptist and non-demoninational) I have attended during my life time are called "pastors" or "assistant pastor" or "associate pastors". The grand-pooba is usually "senior pastor". As the idea of "parish" does not, generally, exist within the evangelical church, it can't be said that charge of a parish as anything to do with who is a "pastor".

Jamie,

Didn't mean any offense. I am a little surprized that Catholics and Orthodox will use "pastor" (a term I thought was exclusively fundy). I just wanted an explanation. I hope the way I requested it didn't come across as too rude or challenging.

Anyway, I have taken this topic pretty far off kilts.

[jkdesq]

Al Sporrano,

Hey. So the article I saw was ... Well, according to my records, I ordered my kilt on March 12, 2003 and, as I said, my decision to obtain a kilt was triggered by the article. So the Calgary kirking occurred sometime shortly after March 12, 2003. I still believe that it had something do to with Tartan Day, although March 12 seems a little early for that. I didn't pay much attention, as I did not have my kilt on the day it occurred. I have never seen any further information on it in subsequent years.

I believe that it was held at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer (ie. Anglican), but I could be wrong. Guess we should watch next March and April.

[Graham]

Well talking of kilts in church, I felt it a tremendous joy and privilege to have spent time kilted in some famous churches on my last adventure, among them Iona Abbey, St.Pauls in London, and St.Magnus Catherdral, Orkney.

I did wonder at times whether many other men had worn kilts under the roof, while it's not the most important consideration when in church, the thought did cross my mind.

[Mr. Kilt]

Al Sporrano,

Hey. So the article I saw was ... Well, according to my records, I ordered my kilt on March 12, 2003 and, as I said, my decision to obtain a kilt was triggered by the article. So the Calgary kirking occurred sometime shortly after March 12, 2003. I still believe that it had something do to with Tartan Day, although March 12 seems a little early for that. I didn't pay much attention, as I did not have my kilt on the day it occurred. I have never seen any further information on it in subsequent years.

I believe that it was held at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer (ie. Anglican), but I could be wrong. Guess we should watch next March and April.

Thanks for the info, I'll be keeping my eyes open for that next spring. I'm not a religious person any more, but I was raised Anglican. My mother's cousin was the Arch-Bishop of Rupertsland for years. We even have an Anglican family church in Manitoba that was built by my ancestors in 1884.

[jfellrath]

Jamie,

Didn't mean any offense. I am a little surprized that Catholics and Orthodox will use "pastor" (a term I thought was exclusively fundy). I just wanted an explanation. I hope the way I requested it didn't come across as too rude or challenging.

Anyway, I have taken this topic pretty far off kilts.

No offense taken at all. I am more than aware that different faiths use the same words for different things.