Passing on the mantle

Last week I was contacted by a friend whose husband died earlier in the year. Bill had been a minister who I knew very well. He had played quiet a part in my formation as a minister. Anyway his widow - I'll call her Juliette - asked would I like to pop round to collect some of Bill's books. So I called into to see Juliette and we had a good chat and I picked up some books. And then Juliette said to me "You take services in a cassock don't you? Would you like some of Bill's stoles and scarves?" I said I'd be delighted and now have six of them.

These add to the collection of other bits and pieces I've inherited from other retired or deceased ministers. Including a rather fine cloak that I use for funerals in the winter.

This all may sound a bit odd and indeed macabre. But in fact I find that when I wear a stole or the cloak that once belonged to another minister, it is almost as if I am taking on their ministry to.

When we visited California in 2010 we went to church in San Diego at First United Methodist. The preacher preached on 2 Kings 2:1-18 in which Elisha takes on the ministry of Elijah and this is signified by Elisha taking on Elijah's cloak. The preacher told a wonderful story of how as a young minister he was given the cassock of a Methodist minister who died and he had this sense of taking on the mantle.

I too have that sense every time I wear the cloak I've been given or when I will put on one of Bill's stoles.

The mantle has been passed on. I just hope it's a while before any of my mantles get passed on to someone else!