Fashion Statement

Discerning what our clothes are saying about our Christianity

02/09/2018

1 Kings 11:29-32; 12:19 Jeroboam left Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. The two were alone in the area, and the prophet was wearing a new cloak. Ahijah took off his new cloak, tore it into twelve pieces, and said to Jeroboam: “Take ten pieces for yourself; the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will tear away the kingdom from Solomon’s grasp and will give you ten of the tribes. One tribe shall remain to him for the sake of David my servant, and of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.’” Israel went into rebellion against David’s house to this day.

Do you know what a fashion statement is? It is when you use your clothes to make a point, usually revealing something about yourself. One day an elderly man walked a long way to visit his son’s family. He arrived late at night and was exhausted. He knocked on the door and his son, a middle aged man, opened the door. Instead of greeting his father with a hug and a kiss, he was rude. When the older man asked if he could come inside, the younger man said it was too late, the family was in bed, and that the old man would have to sleep on the front porch. He told his twelve year old son to bring a sheet for the older man to wrap up in on the porch. But when the little boy returned, he had torn the sheet in two pieces. The middle aged father asked angrily why he did that, and the little boy answered: “Half is for grandpa, and the other half is for when you visit me someday.”

Now, that is a pretty dramatic illustration, and hopefully no one would actually do that to their elderly father. But we do sometimes feel that way in our hearts even if we do not verbalize it. That is the power of a fashion statement: to say with our clothes – or with cloth in this case – what we feel in our hearts but do not necessarily want to say out loud. Both the father and son said something about themselves.

The prophet Ahijah employs the example of a fashion statement to drive home God’s judgment on the people. We read: “Ahijah took off his new cloak and tore it into twelve pieces, and said to Jeroboam, ‘Take ten pieces for yourself…I will give you ten of the tribes.” God had decided that the sins of the people had grown so great that they needed to be punished by dividing the Kingdom of David. Jeroboam would be king in the north, with ten tribes, and henceforth that area would be called “Israel.” Rehoboam would reign in the south, over the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and thereafter that area would be called “Judah.” Incidentally, that is the historic moment at which the Chosen People were called “Jews,” a term derived from “Judah.” Ahijah used his new cloak torn into twelve pieces to make a memorable fashion statement: it symbolized the historical, political, moral and spiritual state of the people. That is quite a fashion statement.

Do your clothes say anything about you? I believe that no matter how little we care or pay attention to our clothes, they nevertheless say something about us: our values, our priorities, sometimes even our self-worth. Priests have the privilege of wearing the Roman collar, which is a symbol of spiritual authority which should be lived out in service. Every morning when I put on the collar and look at myself in the mirror, I feel both the blessing and the burden of my vocation. That black shirt and white collar say a lot about me without me every opening my mouth. Recently a church staff member brought a fashion magazine advertisement with a woman modeling a trendy outfit that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Frankly, it looked rather silly, but what was not silly was the enormous waste of money on such clothes. That outfit speaks volumes about the spiritual state of anyone who buys it. Catholic school children wear uniforms that are modest and inexpensive. We want to teach our students not to focus on fashion but rather on their studies! Pope Francis said in his encyclical on the environment: “A person who could afford to spend and consume more but regularly uses less heating and wears warmer clothes, shows the kind of convictions and attitudes which help to protect the environment” (Laudato si’, 211). Even nudists who wear nothing at all are saying something about themselves; not even nudists can escape making a fashion statement.

Whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, our clothes ineluctably say something about us. When you get dressed in the morning, look in the mirror and ask yourself: what statement is my fashion making about me today? Your fashion statement could even become a faith statement.

Praised be Jesus Christ!