Thanks for commenting! I’m with you that so long as women look “clean and professional” in their work, that is sufficient.

I like your point that competence, knowledge and “loving care” are key qualities for both ministers and nurses. Teaching is another field where these qualities come to mind. A teacher needs to look professional and together in order to be effective with children, but what kids ultimately will appreciate most is caring and competence.

I wear make up; but not always. I am an ICU nurse and work nights; do my patients care how I look-other than clean and professional? Or do they care more about my abilities to provide intelligent, educated and loving care? well, that’s how I feel about a minister…

So…..does the rev. also suggest that faded and invisible MEN look into cosmetics ’stat’?

Thank you for writing! I was moved by your comment, “I try to view eating more healthily and being active as part of having respect for my own inherent worth, but I only hope that even if I fail to do those things I still have worth to other people.”

We all deserve to be seen as a people of worth and dignity. And I believe that despite being bombarded with images of extreme thinness, many of us ARE able to appreciate people of all sizes, and to appreciate ourselves regardless of weight.

Terri,

Thanks for sharing your experience as a parishioner relating to two ministers with very different senses of style. And your story about seeing your minister on her day-off was a sweet illustration of how one can minister in unexpected moments and unexpected ways.

Here’s my take on ministers and appearance…

To me the important thing when it comes to the minister’s appearance is that a minister (man or woman) look professional and appropriate when at work. Within the category of “professional and appropriate” I do think there is some flexibility both for men and women.

A minister’s appearance can never substitute for the openness of heart and sense of presence that you describe. But a professional appearance can reinforce the sense of competence, presence, and confidence that makes an effective minister.

Ms. Theologian,

You make a good point about the harm of certain beauty treatments. I’m not that familiar with the risks of make-up products, but there are some pretty egregiously risky beauty treatments that come to my mind, such as tanning beds, plastic surgery, and anything that involves injecting fluid into one’s face.

GIRLS. WOMEN FOLK. SISTERS IN MINISTRY.

Harken unto PeaceBang. Please.

If you have not yet considered how washed out and exhausted and drab you look without any make-up because you have been too busy to look in the mirror lately, or because of your feminist commitments, or because you don’t want to spend the money, please understand that PeaceBang has the most sincere respect for all of those reasons. But she still wants to say that too many of us are going around looking seriously drab and wan when we don’t need to, and that It’s a Problem for some of us.

You don’t say “from the pulpit” until the very end of your post.

Perhaps it is not your intention to speak to all women, but that’s how you wrote this post. And while you say that you respect women’s reasons for not wanting to wear makeup, you do convey that same attitude as the woman at the makeup counter (”Well, if you really want to look like that. . .”) that pushes all the wrong buttons for many, many women.

I do wear makeup. That’s not the point. What I object to in the attitude and tone of your post is that you are speaking with a sense of “Universal Truth from On High” about an issue that can make many women feel belittled and inferior, and I don’t feel that you have taken that into account.

Thank you for the thoughtful responses here. I’ll respond more soon.

Thanks for your comment.

I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. After reading your post and the discussion in the comments carefully, I thought I correctly understood the message of your post, and I did not pick up that your concern about the lack of makeup applied only to ministers viewed from afar away while preaching.

As you know as a prominent writer and preacher, words have a great deal of power, and they sometimes impact listeners quite differently than intended. What you wrote struck a nerve with me — especially because I’ve enjoyed so much of what you’ve written at Beauty Tips — and I felt the need to share my concerns in what I believed to be a sincere and fair response. I like you as a person and respect you as a professional, and did not intend to be unnecessarily antagonistic.

This may be off topic, but…

In a church I attended, I had two female ministers. One wore make-up. One did not. Knowing them personally, this was absolutely fitting with their personalities, and all that I would ever want from any minister is that they were 100% authentically themselves.

And this may just be me…but I was, for a time, intimidated by the one who wore make-up. She always seemed so together…But when I saw her day-off, hair dissheveled, no make-up, down-to-earth chasing her little one around… something clicked in me– “Oh, she’s real. I can relate.” (I have since seen her make-up melted by real tears in front of the public eye, too.) So, if ministers need to look good for the public, OK. Leading a service is one thing… But, sometimes we need to see their flaws too.

All in all, though, what got me about both ministers is that they were always honest with their hearts in front of that church. Makeup or no makeup, you saw their inner beauty shine through.

I write for clergy, and I write about clergy. We have a serious issue in looking unkempt and sloppy in our ministry. I do wonder why the most vehement protesters of my post, none of whom are clergywomen and therefore not my intended audience, find it necessary to misconstrue my intention and message. Let me make it perfectly clear:
I am writing to my reverend sisters about our public image, not making a generalization about all women. You should certainly know that by now as a long-time reader.

I find this post unnecessarily antagonistic and an inaccurate representation of my words and the context within which they were published.

About “body image,” well that’s another subject altogether. Any visit to a clergy gathering of ours will inform you that a significant number of our ministers are obese. I write a lot about how a plus-sized clergywoman can dress well; I suppose that makes me size-ist?

No. It doesn’t. It makes me, as ever, a tough-talking advocate for clergy image improvement in a visual age. If you and Jess aren’t into make-up, don’t wear it. But don’t keep accusing me of insulting all of womankind because I consistently recommend cosmetic “helps” to my female AND male readers.