I don't have much problem with attire or rather I don't have much problem with what I wear. Now people (my wife especially) would say that I have no gift for attire and that I lack the 'taste' of fine dressing (like I am a salad or something). So I don't pay much attention to what and how I dressed (Ahhhh now that begin to make sense with how I looked huh? Frankly I always thought that with my 'looks' heck, I looked good with what I wear J or no matter what clothes I put on, it's not going to help much L). So, I have been happily going to functions and church meetings and whatever occasions dressing the way I felt and driving my wife up the wall and sometimes even sending her off to the moon.
However, lately I have also recognized that the way I dress would in a way reflect how I view a function. For example if I dress like I am going to bed when I am going to church to worship God, no matter how worshipful my heart and soul and spirit is at the moment, my attitude, at least outwardly is wrong. But we are not concern with outward appearance, are we? True to a certain degree. I agree that even the songs say God is looking to our hearts but how we groom ourselves for an occasion does reflects on how we view the occasion. Try going to meet your in-laws (or future in-laws which I did by the way) in your pajamas. You are not going to do that, right? You want to make a good impression. So we will usually whipped out our best clothes and we dressed to kill.
In YWA, we once had a discussion on attire. We postulated that on one sunny Sunday morning, the Oversight came out with a directive that we cannot wear jeans for Sunday worship. How would we react? Well, the YWAs reacted with surprising objections. It was as if the Oversight had taken away their right to breath. As if wearing jeans was the reason that they go to church on Sunday. Well, I might be a tad melodramatic here but you get the picture. We were actually discussing on the proper attire but it branched off to submission to elders. So the question is actually will we comply or not? Do we submit or not? Now, you would argue that blind submission is wrong, that if the elders asked us to come to church in our birthday suits, we will do that also. I agree with you that we do not submit blindly but in this case is not wearing jeans tantamount to blind obedience category?
What's the point to all this? Well, I recently was reminded in a gentle way that as people who lead or start of the morning worship, I should consider not wearing round neck tees and jeans. So, question is should we take the 'suggestion' and dress appropriately? Well, truth be told, I do think we should. I think, yeah let's not quibble over the small issues, we are here to worship God and let's do that. If by dressing appropriately, I can encourage others to worship and not hinder them, then I had done my part as the person to lead off worship. Yeah, let's dress appropriately.
Katan
PS: The funny thing is this, I don't even have a pair of jeans. Hmmmm, maybe should start getting a pair to wear, then I don't have to start of the worship session. Bears considering….
8 comments:
good one katan! I guess we do need to think of our attire sometimes seriously. But the term of dressing up suitably might be different for everyone. Some think that wearing jeans to worship is ok and some don't. So for those who think it's ok, they consider themselves in a suitable attire. So, it basically depends on how that person thinks. Hehe.. Am i crapping?
carmen....re-read the posting. u seem to miss out on some of the pointers the 'jean-less' guy is saying. -the saint-
hah that's the question i've been asking myself all the time..in the past.
i've come to this conclusion - i can't be bothered. i'll just wear what i feel comfortable in. be it the normal clothes i wear to college. it's God i seek approval, not him, not her nor theirs.
then again, carmen's right. i mean, i wouldn't wear shorts to worship.
this is a very subjective thing (I wouldn't call it an issue).
it's funny that if you should think again, it's always the little stuffs that we talk about, no? it's the small stuffs that bother. Why is that person wearing that? Wear spaghetti straps to church, can or not? Does that now show that our hearts are not set in the right paths? Can we say that we are entitled to say such comments?
Yet again, the Bible is particular about small things. Am I right?
Sigh. Tis' all confusing.
Erm...I maybe a bit out here. You know, I don't need to dress very nicely to work. I can just put on Polo Tees or baby Tees and Jeans to work because of de nature of work.
I've a colleague, who always wears round neck T-shirts, very loose kinda T-shirts and with those very tight and sporty kinda pants( I forgot the name for it). some times with very tight kinda shirts and with those pants. The tummy was so bloated etc. And some times with tops with holes that can see inside? Or with Spaghetti straps? What about that? How did she carry herself? Would she as a teacher gain respect from the students(esp fr their parents?)
What if your teacher wears that to your class? What is your first impression? Oh well, we are very realistic kinda ppl, if the teacher is pretty, we'll not say much. BUT, if that teacher is not pretty or even worse fat, what are our reactions going to be? However, it's teaching time, can I allow my stuff to wear like that to work?
Questions arise in me: What is your attitude towards the work? Why r u dressing up for dinner and not to work? (At least being proper?) Would you take your work place as your home? If not, why dress like your at home or at a place that seems not important to you?
For those who have to dress properly to work, Why dress like that? Because you have to submit to the authority? then is God greater or those authorities? We are not meeting the king at work yet we submit, we follow. When comes to church, we maybe taking our God for granted. We know that God wouldn't mind, we know that God wants our hearts not our outlook. We think we know, what about God asking us to bear good testimony? Well, I'm not sure, this is what i thnik. Yea, by how we dress reflects how we carry ourselves. (correct me if m wrong).
So we are meeting our God who is the King of the universe in church, shall we come with a "casual" attitude or with a "proper" attitude? I think the way we dress reflects our emotion/ attitude that day! To me, as long as it's proper in majority's opinion. Too grand, too sexy or too "casual" as if your at home, can be a distraction to some ppl during worship. And more chance to promote gossips.
i feel that generally guys are more laid back when it comes to clothings. then ppl will say "aiyah... dress like this to church." But when a girl really dress themselves up, sometimes, they'll get labelled as overdress or skimpy or inappropriate dressing.
where do we draw the line?
for me, im fine with wearing tube tops and spagetthi strap out to shopping malls or simply go jalan jalan. but when it comes to church, it would be wise to cover more. i dont want to be a stumbling block to others and distract their attention/focus away from God.
i still think the outward matters not. but then again, what's inside will always lead to how we manage the outside. i believe this issue is just the same with the relationship between faith and good works. good works don't get you to heaven, christians don't necessary have to do good works. but then again, how can we say we're people who love God, who have faith in God, when our actions and what we claim are total opposites? something to ponder about, and likewise the same goes for dressing up to church.
p/s : i still believe that if you groom yourself well, and you're totally convinced that you look prim and proper to God when you come for worship on Sunday, jeans and round neck t-shirt should not be a problem. but then again, yes, this is very subjective because some people will just claim that they consider wearing singlet, short pants, and slippers something prim and proper. it all comes to down to the heart issue, once again.
Conventional yet applicable reasoning.. How are we going to dress ourself when we are going to meet the King ( Agong ? Sultan?) How are we dressing ourself when coming to interview and important functions? Does it carry more weight than coming face to face with the Almighty God? If we think that that is the best we can dress, by all means. Until now, I still don't like wearing shirts. But since that's my benchmark for proper clothing. I still wear it to church on sundays. Just another humble stand of mine on dress code.
Believe it or not, the Church has a dress code. It is found in the Bible, and all God's people are expected to dress in this fashion.
I, along with Paul, must insist in the Lord that all of us dress in the appropriate fashion as befits the people of God: Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12)
Ah! it would be much easier to follow this command if it involved matters of color, cut and design, wouldn't it? It would be much easier to spurn denim than selfishness. Women would find it simpler to be required to wear a dress or a hat than to wear kindness. And all of us would find it easier to wear any kind of standard clothing rather than humility! But, there it is, a Christian dress code. It seems that too many think these wonderful clothes are too good to wear all the time. Like evening wear, these lovely clothes hang in our spiritual closets waiting for special occasions like conferences and such. But, these clothes are work clothes: suitable attire for "works of faith and labors of love." They are daily wear, always acceptable and always in fashion. What are you wearing?
Post a Comment