Should we dress up on Sunday's?
Arguments FOR
God deserves our best!
Many mothers have convinced us that if we were going to meet with the President, we'd dress up so we BETTER dress up for God. The counter-argument would be that this is an Old Testament mindset. We don't GO to meet with God in the New Covenant. God is always with us. If we were going to be consistent with the New Covenant, we'd have to dress up every single day.
The OT Priests dressed up!
Aaron and his sons wore elaborate clothing when they went into the tent of meeting. But in the New Covenant, we are ALL priests and so we should ALL dress up! The counter-argument would be that Aaron's garb was symbolic for the glorious nature of Christ, the High Priest. The Priesthood of all believer's is not about clothing, but ministry.
It's part of our culture!
Sure, dressing up for Sunday is not a biblical mandate, but it's a cultural tradition and there's no good reason to break it. The counter-argument would be that there ARE good reasons to break this tradition, as listed below.
Arguments AGAINST
Creates Unnecessary Formality!
It puts us in the mindset that God can't be approached except through rituals and religion. The early church was a simple church and church was meant to stay that way. The counter-argument would be that informality can occur while wearing formal clothes, you just have to work at it.
Breeds Hypocrisy!
It puts us in the mindset to be weekend worshipers. We can argue the whole way to church and then put on our happy faces while displaying our Sunday best. It's not real. The counter-argument would be that one can be 'real' in any outfit. You can't blame hypocrisy on clothing.
Rejects Lower Class!
It makes a lower class person uncomfortable or, even worse, unlikely to attend the church gathering b/c they feel like a 2nd class citizen. The counter-argument would be that everyone is welcome in the church no matter what they are wearing.
What arguments am I missing? Which arguments are the strongest? Do you dress up on Sunday?
8 comments:
I rarely, if ever, dress up on Sunday, mostly because I don't feel like it. I usually wear jeans and a nice shirt (and by 'nice' I mean plain/presentable/sweater/dressy shirt), but that's only because I'm on stage every week. If I were just sitting in the congregation, I'd probably wear any kind of shirt I wanted, like a t-shirt with words on it, for example. That's just the line I personally draw, be it ever so slight. The pastoral staff at my church is in jeans more often than not, but no one is against dressing up and I'd probably enjoy it a bit if it weren't STILL so cold here in WNY in April!
I am actually uncomfortable when I go to a church where everyone is wearing their Sunday best. It makes me feel inferior. I don't know how a non-Christian would feel in the same situation, but I'd venture to say they'd feel similar to me in more cases than not.
Overall, I think this issue pertains more to preference than anything else. How a congregation/staff dresses certainly sets the tone for the church service, from my experience. A church that wears Sunday best is typically more formal and restricted. It doesn't HAVE to be that way, but it seems it is that way in many churches, and I find it hard to worship in those settings, like the formality is choking the Holy Spirit. Worship is not about me at all, I know, but I definitely have to fight intentionally to really worship. Because of all these things, I love my church (www.tfhny.org) and it is the most significant reason why I've stayed in NY so long and plan to continue to live here indefinitely.
I / We don't dress up on Sunday at Deep Water per se. I would say most people dress like they might if they were going to a sit down restaurant or a movie with friends. Something that acknowledges you are out in public but that's about it. For some people (particularly the ladies) that's a little more dressy and for others it's basically just more or less clean.
I think one of the problems with dressing up for church is not how it compartmentalizes the sacred / secular but in fact how it blurs the lines. Where I grew up dressing up meant something special. Where I live now it just means you are going to the office. It means formality not specialness.
I'm also all on board with how it makes the underprivileged, unchurched, un-establishment folks who visit church feel.
Jessica. I'm glad you're enjoying your church so much :) Great comment.
AJ. I adjusted the 1st argument against b/c what you said is really what I was going for but I didn't word it too well b/c i was adjusting it from 'pagan christianity'
You started from 'Pagan Christianity" - there was your first mistake : )
I think it's a good book for creating discussion. I just think he's very cynical.
Sunday is my only day off- and the only day I don't have to dress up for work. In no universe am I giving up my one chance to wear jeans. At this point I would choose to not attend a church if the dress was to formal.
It's a total 180 from college. when I was a college student and wore jeans and T-shirts everyday. I loved dressing up for Church then.
I think that the pastoral staff but I've also noticed that people are comfortable dressing more formal than the pastor, but not less formal. I think that you should keep that in mind.
If it's important to an individual, they will dress up anyway, even if it goes against the grain. They won't do the reverse. I guess for this reason I think that the leadership should er on the side of casual.
At my church, two or three men wear suits (including the pastor). The rest of the men and boys wear clothing ranging from overalls to casual dress pants. Most of the ladies and girls wear dresses or skirts, but some ladies wear jeans or khakis. So we have all kinds, I guess. It doesn't seem to be that big of a deal.
Is it a big deal? We worry more about immodest clothing than clothing that is too casual.
I don't think it's a big deal. I certainly hope it isn't. I counted today, in our first service which is only about 70 people and there were just 4 or 5 suits and that was counting our senior pastor and song leader.
I agree with modesty being a more important issue than casualness
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