At my seminary, all of the MDiv (short for Master of Divinity) students are required to be in the rotation of leading one of the weekday morning chapel services.  My turn rolled around this morning.  I wore an alb for the first time ever (for those of you not in the know, an alb is a white robe that typically has a hood on it, though the hood is seldom if ever worn pulled up).  I sang and chanted (cantored).  Still being sick, I am amazed I managed to croak my way through but I got through it.  

One of my friends asked me later how it felt to be up there with the alb and all that, like did it feel as though I were growing into a pastoral identity?  My answer was no.  It felt very bizarre and foreign to me wearing an alb, like a costume representing an era long gone, perhaps a little showy and distinguishing.  I am still trying to make up my mind about things like robes and such.  I don’t think they’re bad, but I just feel… stuffy and set-apart from the rest of the assembly.  Part of the Lutheran theology that I dig so much is the concept of the priesthood of all believers, yet this is something I seldom see in real life.  The albs and vestments definitely set apart the priesthood from the rest of the believers and one never sees a non-ordained person officiate at communion.  I get it and I don’t get it all at the same time.  Jury is still out.