My pet peeve about church, is that nobody gets dressed up for church anymore. I know I’m in a minority on that subject.
But I’m sure all of a certain age here, remember when men and boys wore suits to church, and girls and women wore nice dresses. Even at some of the more conservative or fundamentalist churches, there is no dress code anymore that I have seen. And I think that this is another matter, which has seeped in from the secular culture, which also has seen dress codes done away with in schools and the professional offices.
I know I’m a minority opinion, but, it can be unsightly to see people in tennis outfits and torn jeans in church. Flame away if you like, as I know I’m in the minority on this one. I know someone might say God wants us in church no matter how we are dressed. I’m just making an observation about how people don’t get dressed for church, and I don’t think that is a positive development.
No flame but I prefer to go in my old jeans, a lot of the time.
I don’t want people to treat me better if I’m wearing a nice suit (I have a couple of nice suits but not expensive suits).
Now when I was an usher, yes I wore my nice suits to look professional. But I treat people, or hope the Lord grants me the grace to treat people as admonished by the Lord’s Brother James. I try to think, what if I saw a man on the street in ratty clothes begging for food and I could help him? (which has been difficult the past few years because of the lack of work in my field). I try to think, what if I’m encountering an angel of the Lord? I would expect they would come in ratty clothing. And the Lord speaks of showing grace and mercy to the least of His brethren (which is OFTEN me, LOL):
James 2:1-13 New King James Version
Beware of Personal Favoritism
1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,
3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,”
4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?
7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;
9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
For men, suits and ties are required in our Latin Masses. You will be admitted without a tie once, but not without the jacket, dress slacks and dress shoes. And contrary to a previous comment, the priests have most certainly not given in to pop culture. Ha!
“..that nobody gets dressed up for church anymore.”
Agreed. Here at the beach, some guys come in with ‘wild’ looking shorts, tops and flip flops. Thought it was me that thought it was disrespectful.
I’m with you on that and horribly guilty of it unfortunately.
It says a lot more about people who do dress up than those who don’t.
There’s the respect factor there. Good points and well stated.
I wholeheartedly agree. We dress our best when we go to weddings, funerals, business meetings, court, etc.........because it shows respect. That was the rationale decades ago for dressing up for church. Everyone should be welcomed, if they come to church dressed in their own personal best. We’ve abandoned the wisdom of our forefathers, in an attempt to be all-inclusive.
My priest at an old parish put the onus on church leadership as well as the congregation. He told an anecdote about a teenager who came into the confessional and told the priest, "Father, last week I found myself in a situation where I was sitting behind a gorgeous young lady wearing a short skirt, and a low cut top. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her, and found myself filled with lust."
The priest replied, "Well my son, those are natural feelings, especially for a young man of your age, but you have to learn to discipline yourself and remove yourself from those situations when you find yourself in such circumstances. Where were you that you couldn't just get up and leave?"
The boy replied, "I was at 10 o'Clock Mass, Father."