Sunday, June 05, 2011

Ooooh, I feel so naughty!

For the first time in my life I wore shorts to a Sunday morning meeting of the church. It kind of felt like the first time I drank a cup of coffee after we left mormonism, like I was doing something wicked. After all, Jesus spent lots of time admonishing His disciples to wear their finest togas on Sunday morning.

There was a time when I viewed people who wore blue jeans to church as somehow being less serious about their faith. Doesn't God deserve our best worship and don't we show just how serious we are about worship by wearing a suit or at least a tie? I guess these days I think it is the imputed righteousness of Christ that makes me holy, not the culturally mandated church uniform that I wear.

Now having said that, we are heading over to the evening service of a conservative Mennonite church to see some friends and I put on a pair of slacks. Not because it makes me more holy but out of respect for their traditions. Looking forward to seeing some fellow brothers and sisters in Christ this evening!

6 comments:

Fred Shope said...

Yesterday I went to a high school graduation that had a dress code for friends and family: Business casual or church dress. I opted to go with business casual, because my "Sunday best" consists of jeans or shorts and a t-shirt.

Aussie John said...

Arthur,

Thirty five years ago. First time in the pulpit without a coat and tie.

Criticism? Yes!From some members dressed in shorts and open necked shirts

Temperature was 42 centigrade.

JRo said...

Good short perspective bro. I feel the same in all aspects, including respect for other denoms & beliefs attending their services.

When is it ok to make a point w/ what we wear and when or is it disrespectful in our own denom meetings?

Arthur Sido said...

JRo

I guess in my case, the gathering I wore shorts to didn't see anything wrong with it whereas my Mennonite friends wouldn't say anything but it would be a distraction. I am not sure I would use my attire to make a point esp. if it would cause an issue with a brother. In that case it was worth putting on slacks (although I still looked a little out of place!)

Arthur Sido said...

John

I have no idea how hot 42 degrees centrigrade is but it sounds hot! I always felt weird when "preaching" if I took my suit coat off.

Bethany W. said...

Another perspective here -
I am now at liberty to wear pants to church because we recently left a legalistic home group. (I don't mean this as a comment against home groups... I just wanted to look at the other side of the coin.) There are problems with all gatherings, because we who gather are all fallen.
Bethany (we have not been skirts-only for a while now. I hope my comments will still be appreciated ; )