The above question was asked to me a few weeks ago at my church. To my surprise, I had never given serious thought to it before. As far back as I can remember, my parents have set standards for dress, including for Sundays. When I was a very little girl, I would never dream of wearing anything but a dress to church (albeit, I would never dream of wearing anything but a dress, at all). My mother would brush my soft curly hair (while I enjoyed the soft curliness of it, having my hair brushed was one of the worst things I could think of, right next to wearing tennis shoes or worse...pants), help me distinguish between white and off-white tights and pick out a "twirly" dress.
When we moved to Hawaii, tights became less practical, and were reserved strictly for ballet lessons. My hair had turned blonde and wild, but Sunday was the one day when I simply had to get every knot out. In those days, my church clothes were still primarily dresses, including one or two muumuus (oh yes).
Moving back to San Antonio saw me branch out a little bit, and mix in denim skirts and shirts to my Sunday attire. In those days, my parents not only had rules about clothing, but hair as well. Although this became less of an issue as we got older, for several years, my sisters and I weren't allowed to wear our hair in ponytails to church. Hair needed to be brushed and left down, held back with barrettes, or french braided (every self-respecting homeschooled girl knows the joys of french braids).
As I got older, I began wearing pants to church occasionally, but always "nice" pants. I would never dream of wearing jeans with holes (to this day, I seldom wear jeans at all to church). It was always dressed up, never casual, hair was done, makeup neat.
So thinking back over all of this, and looking at how much the way I dress for church has changed over the years, I realized (rather late in life, I'd imagine) that it's not aboutwhat you wear, but why you are wearing it. It's your attitude. I dress nicely because I am in the Lord's house--why wouldn't I want to look my best for Him? Not that He cares what I look like, obviously, but even so, I want to be presentable. So for me, dressing nicely has everything to do with perception. At 8 years old, I would have thought that wearing pants or hair in a ponytail to church wasn't nice enough. That had everything to do with my perception of what nice was. Now, I feel presentable when I wear pants to church, because I can make it look "dressy." The reason my parents had a rule about ponytails was because when we were younger, wearing a ponytail meant not doing our hair--throwing it up in a ponytail holder so we didn't have to mess with it. That isn't how I think of it today. Again, it was about attitude. Dressing "nicely" is relative--what is nice to one person may be far too casual OR over-the-top to any other given person. Let's not judge fellow believers on what they wear when they worship--or what they wear at all. The Lord calls us all to different standards of dress, and it is our own to work out based on how we feel He has called us.
Love,
Shelley
Dressing for worship (specifically) has been a consta-conversation around our place for years. There is a cultural aspect to what people wear as well. My aloha shirts, shorts and flip-flops (slippers) are appropriate in the islands, but not as welcome in a conservative church in California's central valley. At the same time, I remember the humor of seeing bright white missionaries dressed up and taking the gospel to the tribes of Africa and thinking "how silly" it looked.
ReplyDeleteThere is also the concept of good, better, best. I can remember people saying..."Put on your best for God." Well, based on price, my best are very expensive Hawaiian shirts. What they really meant was put on your best "button-down oxfords and khakis...and a tie if you have one." Church felt more like dining with pharisees than reclining with tax-collectors.
Others offered, "How would you dress to meet the President? or What would you wear for a business meeting?" My answers always seemed to speak of a uniform. Is that what Sundays were to become? Church uniforms?
It always came back to my attitude. It's not the what, it's the why. Did I roll out of bed and speed to church a crumpled mess or did I prepare my mind, my heart, my thoughts, and my "clothed" body for worship. In our home, we take the step of laying out our church clothes before we go to bed. Yes it is basic prep in a family of ten, but it is also the action that we are taking time to consider what we are wearing.
Lately, we've been attending a new church. I know many people who would raise their eyes at the pastor preaching in jeans and a t-shirt, but, every week the gospel leaves his lips. I can't say that was what I heard every week from the coat/tie crowd or even the vestments crowd I've worshipped with in the past. I'll take jeans/t-shirts anyday if I get the gospel!