People Who Dress Down for Church

The church I have been attending is one that dressing seems to be an attempt to see how sloppy we can get, especially the youth. Holes in jeans, ripped t-shirts, shorts that I see as being too short.
I grew up in a church in which suits were the norm. My pastor was also well dressed and outside always wore a fedora style hat. He lead the area in baptisms and knew everyone in town. Before I attend seminary I asked him why he also had on a coat and tie. His reply was this...." Who are you going to take more serious, a man in bib-overalls or a man in a coat and tie? and he concluded by saying this, "winning people to Jesus is the most serious thing there is...."
I have taken this literally for years. When I taught school, I wore a coat and tie to class, when the teacher dress code is so relaxed now jeans and a t-shirt are the norm. ( I don't care what people say, it made me a better teacher.)
Even though the congregation does, even though the deacons do not, even though the preacher wears jeans and a shirt that makes him look "Dunlop."( My belly done lopped over my belt.) I wear a coat and tie to church.

 

Well, the best we can "wear", is being clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and His shed blood.

 

Hmmm. You're upset about clothing, but it doesn't bother you that you miss so much church.

 

In his defense, he attends a mega church where it is probably a rather large pain to find parking. It would be a large inconvienence for him to attend those services.

 

:laugh: Seriously?

I smell sarcasm.

 

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc

It's a way of pointing out that we've had this, pointless, conversation before...time to move on.

 

I always make an effort to be clean and presentable no matter where I am.

I understand the mindset of people who dress up different for church. I'm just no longer one of them. If anything, I try not to dress as nice as I dress for work. When at work I take extra effort to look professional and there are rules that say that every day but Friday, we have to look professional if we're going to stand in front of a classroom. I won't let my kids go to school looking like bums.

But in going to church? I feel like I'm putting on pretenses if I dress up. It's not how I dress at home and I'm not dressing to follow a work code. I'm just me. My husband wears a suit or nice stuff a lot, but on the days he wears a suit, we're usually running late because he looks GOOD in a suit and it distracts me! Yes men, women notice when you look good. LOL Putting a woman in a room full of men dressed in (fashionable high quality) suits is, for a number of women, the equivalent of putting a man in a room of ladies wearing daisy dukes and halter tops. I'm sure everyone's going to be offended by that or deny it, but it's true. Men are attracted by skin. Women are attracted to men who look successful in life because it says they're capable of being providers and that they have some kind of power. Why do you think it's always joked that men in suits/uniforms are eye candy for women?

So go ahead, wear your suit to church. The women don't mind. But if you're doing it to show reverence for God, I don't think he's impressed, although I'm sure he knows your heart and appreciates the extra effort, so long as whatever you wear, your heart and motives are clear.

Thankfully for me, most men in Baptist churches I've been in couldn't find the right suit to save their lives. Makes me want to start being a fashion consultant. ROFL

Oh yeah, as long as we're at it, QUIT WEARING PINK, MEN! It doesn't look good on you. And quit calling it salmon, it doesn't make it any better. People say a man who is comfortable with himself will wear pink, but when we women see it, we just usually think you're trying to prove something or we think you're secretly girly.

 

No...Paul (not the apostle) does.

 

Who cares if people like Paul are offended? It's frankly none of his business, in fact I'm offended by those who are offended by such legalistic nonsense.

 

Nothing wrong with pink shirts/ties...you haven't been to Charleston,SC recently have you?

 

Paul the Apostles says we should care if Paul is offended.

"Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." Romans 14:13

Romans 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

We are to Care if he is offended according to the Apostle Paul.

 

I have always viewed those who dress down intentionally as some one who do so as an act of rebellion either against society or tradition. However if thats your best thats a different story.

 

I actually enjoy wearing suits (to an extent), but I have found that wearing one distracts me during the service. I'm always trying to get lint off it, and it takes so much time to keep them presentable. I have found that since I started wearing jeans and a polo to church my concentration has improved because I am less worried about keeping my suit in order.

 

http://www.contemposuits.com/zoot-suits-by-denzel-mens-new-brown-vested-zoot-suit-m044.html

Just bought me a suit similar to this one for a preaching engagement. In fact most of my suits are the zoot suit style

 

Hmmm, did you see me at choir practice last night, Paul?

Yeah, that was me, the blonde in the rumpled blue jeans and t-shirt.

Would you like to make a guess at what would have led me to do such a disrespectful thing? Well let me think to how my day went yesterday:

Got up about 6
got the man off to work
did the daily housekeeping chores (takes about 2 hours)
talked to my dad about my mother's health (includes alzheimers and now potentially cancer)
got a kid off to his mechanics class
was able to get dressed!! And yes, this is when I put on the jeans and t-shirt!
homeschooled the second kid
vacuumed and mopped the floors
got the first kid back from his class and gave him his school assignments
made sure we all had lunch
started supper (yep supper)
picked a friend who needed a break
invaded the home of a second friend where I spent the next two hours on my feet quilting
took the first friend shopping for things she needed
got home and did a bit of sewing the friend needed
took her home
back to house to fix supper. It was after 5 by then.
so of course I fixed myself a cup of coffee
I drank it while I:

finished supper prep
was invaded by teen boys who had been to the gym and wanted to tell me about their day
answered a call from my college girl who had finished her honors midterm and wanted to wind down by telling me about it
worked on supper some more
joshed with the boys some more (hey when they give you attention you have to take it!)
finished supper with the kitchen reasonably intact (small miracle considering 3 teens boys)
and realized I had just enough to:

deliver my elderly parents supper and
MAKE IT TO CHOIR PRACTICE for the first time in 3 months.

Now, tell me. Do you think anyone at ALL paid any attention AT ALL to what I was wearing?????

Get real.

They were glad I could get away from all the people that I have to care for (God given responsibility to be a keeper at home, remember that) long enough to come to choir! They hope that I'll be able to make it to sing with them Sunday morning after I make the 60 mile (one way) trip to B'ham to drop my husband off at the airport! They didn't give a flip about what I was wearing.

And neither should you. Such shallowness is unbecoming of a Christian.

 

Well said, even if somewhat overgeneralized.

Truer words have never been spoken.

I think you may be overreaching on the pink issue, however. I think some of it may be cultural, regional, or generational. I readily admit that I wear pink on occasion (a shirt or a tie), and I have received positive feedback. Your mileage obviously varies, and I'm sure that they could have been lying, but I don't particularly care.

On a personal note, I don't really care if someone thinks I am trying to prove something or thinks that I'm secretly girly. It is fairly obvious from looking at me that I'm no man's man. (As a side note, I get called "Ma'am" in drive-throughs, but I can't help the way my voice sounds naturally.) If I worried about this, I'd go insane!

 

Let's see what I can remember from the Word:

1. We are enjoined to dress modestly. That is a heap more than just covering the pertanent parts. It means not ostentatiously also. Hmm--so maybe jeans, being common wear, are more Biblical than suits.

2. We are warned to beware of treating the well dressed better than the poorly dressed.

3. We are warned of those that for pretense like to make the fringes of their robes longer, aka dress up to look spiritual.

4. In the OT the Jews were told to wash up and then rules for clothing were given for the priests. We are all priests now, and told to dress up in the righteousness of Christ.

5. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Given that I live in a poverty area where my neighbors cannot afford fancy clothes, what should I do to make them not feel belittled at church? And so--I generally wear the same clothes I do for everyday, just my cleanest neatest best condition ones, same as for any public event. Once in a while I slip and dress up. Ya'll can feel free to pray for me about that.