08.27.23 "A Personal Religious Revival"

A recent exchange with an old friend triggered some personal revelations. This person wouldn’t get together with me for dinner if I was going to wear my cleric collar. I humored them once about 2 years ago and wore a long tie instead. It was fine, but I have not been guided to do that again. At the time I thought, "Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something 'outrageous,' do it because it does not matter." (OrEd.Tx.11.27) I started to wear the cleric collar in 2020 when the shelter-in-place directives were issued in March of that year. The idea that clergy weren’t essential workers seemed preposterous to me. As I spoke of at the time "Drastic Times Require Drastic Measures – 03.29.20.”

Making a true public display of my life's focus has had a great value in ways I had not thought of before. I started going by "Rev. Tony” instead of just “Tony” when I was first ordained in 1984. I have never wavered from that and eventually I got all my legal documents to reflect my name change. I suppose 36 years was enough of a trial run. Apparently by 2020 I was ready to kick my dedication up a notch. I am so glad I did. It has become a personal religious revival for me. There is nothing more important for Rev. Tony than to continually remind himself how he is to interface with the world. I am a man of God, here to illustrate a Spirit dedicated life, devoted to healing all the Holy Child of God. "Until you see the healing of the Son as all you wish to be accomplished by the world, by time, and all appearances, you will not know the Father nor yourself." (OrEd.Tx.24.52) The cleric collar communicates so much without me even having to speak a word. It provides a foundation for every conversation to be had on top of that.

I never leave home without wearing my collar. I don’t go out in public without it because it is my statement about what my public life is dedicated to. I even wear it often in my home. “No” I do not sleep with it. (lol) I have found that almost everyone accepts me with it just fine – even my high school classmates from Canastota, NY when I show up for our annual reunions. My biological sisters accept it. My church has accepted it – or perhaps the ones who did not left. All the waiters and waitresses at restaurants I eat at accept it. All the clerks in the stores I shop at accept it. In truth I believe people are generally friendlier to me than they are to the average person. Perhaps I seem "safer.” I’m not sure, but friendlier interactions are certainly a wonderful thing.

As for my friend who won’t have dinner with me if I wear it … well I have to ask what kind of a “friend” that is, and why would I want to have dinner with such a person? That's an important revelation in itself. I am "Rev. Tony Ponticello" and I am enjoying the personal religious revival I have had since putting on the cleric collar. I don’t see myself going back. It’s been terrific.

32 min.
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