Counter Culture--Dressing up
Friday, April 01, 2005
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Well, I wrote a nice, long blog about Counter Culture earlier in the week, but our wonderful technology lost my thoughts somewhere between "create" and "publish."
Let me see if I can recreate some of the magic. :)
The topic was "Why do Christians dress up on Sunday?"
Let me highlight a few key points.
1. The reason we dress up for church is highly influenced by our southern culture and how we grew up with our families.
2. The southern culture is further intensified in Oxford, which seems to be known for dressing up to go the Square, football games, etc.
3. How do we think God really feels about what we wear?
4. We know God is more concerned with the heart and internals, but how important are externals to him? We know he wants modesty, but that is not "dressing up."
5. We seem to give a Sunday morning assembly more importance by our attendance and the clothes we wear. Is this okay?
6. Is it okay that we seem to be getting less and less dressed up for Sunday morning worship?
7. Are we trying to look our best for God or for the people that will see us? Check motives!
8. How easy is it to spend $100 on clothes, but give no money to God's mission on Sunday? College students, we must be more generous with our giving!
9. Does our dressing up exclude or distance poorer people?
10. Does our dressing up perpetuate the fake "everything is okay" attitude we bring to worship on Sunday morning with our fake or superficial smiles?
Bottom line: I believe our dressing up can produce hindrances that we must protect against. This is the culture we live in and I'm not sure we can or should change it. We should be taking every chance, however, to reach out to those who might feel out of place if they don't dress up like we do. We should also be as generous with our giving to God as we are with our giving to JC Penney, Gap, Old Navy, etc.
I hope this gets published! Let me know your thoughts.
Let me see if I can recreate some of the magic. :)
The topic was "Why do Christians dress up on Sunday?"
Let me highlight a few key points.
1. The reason we dress up for church is highly influenced by our southern culture and how we grew up with our families.
2. The southern culture is further intensified in Oxford, which seems to be known for dressing up to go the Square, football games, etc.
3. How do we think God really feels about what we wear?
4. We know God is more concerned with the heart and internals, but how important are externals to him? We know he wants modesty, but that is not "dressing up."
5. We seem to give a Sunday morning assembly more importance by our attendance and the clothes we wear. Is this okay?
6. Is it okay that we seem to be getting less and less dressed up for Sunday morning worship?
7. Are we trying to look our best for God or for the people that will see us? Check motives!
8. How easy is it to spend $100 on clothes, but give no money to God's mission on Sunday? College students, we must be more generous with our giving!
9. Does our dressing up exclude or distance poorer people?
10. Does our dressing up perpetuate the fake "everything is okay" attitude we bring to worship on Sunday morning with our fake or superficial smiles?
Bottom line: I believe our dressing up can produce hindrances that we must protect against. This is the culture we live in and I'm not sure we can or should change it. We should be taking every chance, however, to reach out to those who might feel out of place if they don't dress up like we do. We should also be as generous with our giving to God as we are with our giving to JC Penney, Gap, Old Navy, etc.
I hope this gets published! Let me know your thoughts.
Write a Comment
Casey,
I agree that sometimes Christians "dress up" on days to somewhat show off. I think that it should not matter if we "dress up" but it should matter if we are dressing like God wants us to. We cannot try to please both God and the world. I know that some people look down on me because i choose to dress modestly instead of going with the fashions. I do have some things that are fashionable but rarely wear them because I am uncomfortable and dont think that they are that modest. I will wear them however if I feel like its a. the right time of year and b. if I think that i wont be looked at weird.
In Christ
Thanks for the thoughts Casey. I personally am a t-shirt and jeans kind of person. (but that is beside the point).
I think a lot of times our dressing up separates us from the people that really need to be reached. For example. inner city churches, churches in foreign countries don't dress up. They welcome ALL!
I wish our congregation's could be like that.
I think to often that we are so worried about what we look like on the outside that we forget that the inside is what is important. It makes me wonder where our priorities are: God is looking on the inside, the world is looking on the outside --Who are we trying to impress?
I agree that "dressing up" on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights or Wednesday nights is not essential to salvation and may serve as a stumbling block to members of the church who can't dress as nice as others and non-members that are not yet part of Christ's body. I also recognize that the formalization of Sunday morning worship in particular presents some members and visitors from truly engaging in worship because they are focused on their outward appearance. However, Christ himself recognized the customs of various groups throughout the New Testament. Some of the customs were in error and against Christ teachings, but others that were not against the teachings of Christ were acceptable. "Dressing up," even though it is not necessary to salvation, is not contrary to the commands of God. Because it is not a sin to "dress up," the local church's custom of how they dress and what they wear to church seems to me to be an issue that must be internally resolved by each individual. To put "God's stamp of approval" on dressing up or not dressing up seems to go beyond what God teaches.
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