10-21-19<\/p>\n
Recently I have visited churches, worshiping away from home, and have been reminded of when I lived in California. What rang bells in my personal belfry is not exclusive to the Golden State. (And Larry Gatlin had it right about all the gold in California, but that\u2019s for another time…)<\/p>\n
There is a \u201ctrendency\u201d in the American church that probably began in California, probably with the \u201cJesus Movement\u201d of the late 1960s and early \u201870s. It is the stranger side of the welcoming \u201cSeeker\u201d type of worship. Come as you are\u2026 God does not require three-piece suits and long dresses and heels (for women and men, respectively\u2026 although we do have the California context)\u2026 dress codes can be intimidating\u2026 God is interested in your heart, not your wardrobe.<\/p>\n
You have heard these things; maybe even believe them or have been persuaded; or, of course, might bristle at the non-rules. The other extreme is formalism that makes formality a form of Godliness, more extreme than dress codes. I have been in churches where women (in head coverings) are segregated from male worshipers; where my son and I were forbidden Communion because we had not first met with the church\u2019s pastor (our actual denomination, but a different synod).<\/p>\n
As I say, God knows our hearts after all. But in the church I visited last Sunday, the pastor who introduced himself already stood out\u2026 as the person in the dirtiest flannel shirt; in the jeans with the most rips in them; in the most beat-up work boots. In many churches today, leaders nor worshipers dress formally, despite perhaps clean T-shirts or jeans. Many pastors perch on stools, wear Hawaiian shirts and cargo shorts. \u201cWorship leaders\u201d seem required to wear uniforms of grunge.<\/p>\n
Is all this a reaction against a generation of pastors and televangelists who wrapped themselves in three-piece suits and blow-dried hair? Perhaps. Is it legitimate to resist formalism? I say yes\u2026 as long as it is not confused with formality.<\/p>\n
Taking that further, there are differences between formalism, as I say, and formality\u2026 a difference between rules and the law, and legalism\u2026 a difference between liberty and license\u2026 a difference between unity and uniformity\u2026 a difference between reverence and rudeness\u2026 a difference between respect and dirty jeans when worshiping Almighty God.<\/p>\n
The fact that God does not require<\/em> you to wear ties and jackets, or modest dresses or slacks, does not<\/em> mean that you have<\/em> to dress in your cleanest dirty shirt, to quote Kris Kristofferson Does the Bible have a suggestion for a dress code? As with everything else\u2026 yes. Stick with me:<\/p>\n Take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.<\/em><\/p>\n These are well-known words from the sixth chapter of Ephesians, and only partly are dispositive here. The advice is for a spiritual wardrobe, not how you would show up to church, clanging breastplates and swords. Metaphorically, what a well-dressed Christian will wear the remainder of the week.<\/p>\n However, there is one more item whose preparation is important to how we present ourselves before others\u2026 and before God.<\/p>\n How about your heart? Is it right with God? As Bennie Tripplet wrote in that great Gospel song,<\/p>\n
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\nWill these things keep you out of Heaven? Of course not. But I just wonder at the level of respect \u2013 I despair at the disappearance of reverence \u2013 when we have lost the impulse to approach God, and God\u2019s people, in a little different manner than we do people in the supermarket, ball field, or work weekend.<\/p>\n