Not saying that anything is wrong with this style of setting but I do have something to offer for some feedback.
Yes, it would be nice if you the reader would scroll down after reading this and leave a comment with what you think about this subject I am about to explain.
When I am home, I usually go to my home church, and when I go to my home church I do not dress up. It is really for no particular reason, just that I am not a dressy person. However, in a traditional church setting it is most appropriate to come with your coats and ties, high heels and modest dresses, hair done ( for you fellas "coiffed" might be the right term). I will come in a T-shirt and jeans and be just as happy as a clam, but there are three things I would like to point out, it is something of a quarrel in my brain:
1. Some would suggest that putting your best before God on Sunday means mind, body, soul, and perhaps your outer image. Cleaning up well for the Lord I suppose you would say. In this regard, I almost disagree, if we are to put our best before God on Sundays then doesn't that suggest that we do not have to put our best before God every day?
Furthermore, the outer image is nothing, to me it is rubbish, we judge to much for what is on the outside of a person. I respect what is on my body because God has blessed me with the means to cover my nakedness, and I thank God when I can look more respectable as is our culture in some occasions. In this manner I respect the outer image, nothing more, I hold my inner self more responsible than the outer.
2. In regards to culture however, (this is where I am battling myself I suppose) we are sometimes expected to look our best in these churches. Am I simply rebelling a cultural norm that does not defy God? Am I losing the chance to be more respected and accepted in my own culture because I am not being "all things to ALL people", including those from my hometown? Do I say I am so sensitive to culture but when I am in my own I completely disregard its norms because I am aware of other cultures?
Should the observation of other cultures in the church setting be forgotten simply because we have our own culture? Absolutely not. Should our own culture be stamped out because of the intense concentration of other cultures? Absolutely not. Honestly if it were up to me, we would all be in house churches, dressing however we wanted, praising God however we see fit, but it is not up to me, I did not establish this culture.
3. This is where I am in my stance. God has called us to come, simply come and worship with other believers for a time. He did not say "Thou shalt come into the house of the Lord wearing collared shirts, neckties, and polished shoes. Thou shalt come with dangly earrings, knee-length dresses, and high-heeled shoes for this is the attire I have chosen for my people." In fact one of the most unappealing stipulations for church-going for some people is the fact that they have to get up and put on their "Sunday best" just to sit in a pue for an hour.
I don't go into church with my t-shirt and jeans to make a statement, I go because I'm comfortable, I go in them because at my own home church I feel that they will accept me for who I am in Christ no matter what I look like. Many are contemporary churches where this issue is resolved with people proclaiming to "come as you are" call me contemporary, but that is where I am right now.
Please give me feedback, it is most appreciated on this simple issue.
All to God
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