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Personally, I don't like to dress up. I'm much more comfortable in my La-Z-Boy recliner in my favorite sweatshirt, slippers, and jeans while reading my Bible or praying.
Something gets lost when Christians begin showing off instead of showing respect by the way they dress. For example, one church I was in had become a weekly fashion show seeing who could out dress the other. Besides being ridiculous, it became a distraction and a disruption to the point the pastor had to address it.
I think too culture plays a part. We're starting a Spanish church service next month. The Hispanic people in our congregation all dress in their "Sunday best." Our new pastor said that's simply how they were raised. Whether all Hispanics are that way I don't know.
Some say they dress up for church "To honor the Lord," or "To show respect to God in the House of the Lord."
Others say, "God doesn't care how I'm dressed," or "God cares more about my heart."
Personally, I don't like to dress up. I'm much more comfortable in my La-Z-Boy recliner in my favorite sweatshirt, slippers, and jeans while reading my Bible or praying.
Something gets lost when Christians begin showing off instead of showing respect by the way they dress. For example, one church I was in had become a weekly fashion show seeing who could out dress the other.
I think too culture plays a part. We're starting a Spanish church service next month. The Hispanic people in our congregation all dress in their "Sunday best." Our new pastor said that's how they were raised.
Some say they dress up for church "To honor the Lord," or "To show respect to God in the House of the Lord."
Others say, "God doesn't care how I'm dressed," or "God cares more about my heart."
Is how you dress for church important?
I say donate the money to the poor that would typically be used to buy nice clothes. Based on the God described in the New Testament I think he would much rather see a surge in charitable contributions than people wearing nice clothes. But ultimately you'd have to ask him and see what he says.
This can be a path to legalism. "Shoes don't make the man".
I went to parochial school as a child. We all had a "uniform". My daughter taught in a parochial school and she had to wear clothes of a "modest" nature. We've been to church in bathing suits, wifey had a modesty wrap. The only long pants I had was scuba gear. The older more traditional folks dress up... and they look nice. The more rural we are, the less dressup-ness we have.
I usually wear Jeans and a jacket. If it's real hot out, I carry the jacket 'cause the wife is always cold.
Personally, I don't like to dress up. I'm much more comfortable in my La-Z-Boy recliner in my favorite sweatshirt, slippers, and jeans while reading my Bible or praying.
Something gets lost when Christians begin showing off instead of showing respect by the way they dress. For example, one church I was in had become a weekly fashion show seeing who could out dress the other.
I think too culture plays a part. We're starting a Spanish church service next month. The Hispanic people in our congregation all dress in their "Sunday best." Our new pastor said that's how they were raised.
Some say they dress up for church "To honor the Lord," or "To show respect to God in the House of the Lord."
Others say, "God doesn't care how I'm dressed," or "God cares more about my heart."
Is how you dress for church important?
I have a personal preference: I don't wear jeans or shorts when I go to mass. There is such a thing as Sunday clothes.
Having said that: Some young women dress in very sensual manner for mass, but in Catholicism that seems to be more accepted. I bet our pastor Monsignor is a bit upset with jeans, but he would never say anything to anyone.
Some parishioners dress very well ALL the time with coat and tie and the whole nine yards. We have a few African Catholic families that dress very well ALL the time and the kids are impeccable. My wife loves how the entire family is well dressed for mass. She sees that as a sign of piety and respect for the Lord.
IMHO, people should dress as best as they can for church.
One of the things that I disliked the most about being taken to church when I was a kid was that it meant putting on the very most uncomfortable clothes that I had. Those horrible itchy wool pants, shirt buttoned right up to my neck, necktie (the very most despised piece of clothing to this day), jacket, and the school shoes that I'd had to polish the night before.
I couldn't believe that church was a place that some people actually went voluntarily.
I have a personal preference: I don't wear jeans or shorts when I go to mass. There is such a thing as Sunday clothes.
Having said that: Some young women dress in very sensual manner for mass, but in Catholicism that seems to be more accepted. I bet our pastor Monsignor is a bit upset with jeans, but he would never say anything to anyone.
Some parishioners dress very well ALL the time with coat and tie and the whole nine yards. We have a few African Catholic families that dress very well ALL the time and the kids are impeccable. My wife loves how the entire family is well dressed for mass. She sees that as a sign of piety and respect for the Lord.
IMHO, people should dress as best as they can for church.
I've attended Mass with people who came straight from the fields where they'd been picking crops in the hot sun. (Backbreaking, dirty work.) All of them Hispanic and poor.
Is how you dress for church important? Hmmmm....To those people attending church was important.
It's entirely a cultural thing. You should dress so that you don't cause others to forget why they are there. If you wear a 3 piece suit in some areas of the country you'd have people staring at you. In such an area a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and sandals might be perfectly normal. In another place, anything less than a 3 piece suit might draw stares.
The point is to not distract or draw attention. You're there to honor God--not to outdress someone else.
We dress up a wee bit but for us dress up is nice jeans and a button down shirt that is not a work shirt and either a comfortable casual dress, skirt and blouse or a nice pair of jeans and a button down shirt.
We are there to worship and listen to the messenger not to impress those we are sitting with when it comes to our clothing.
I cannot stomach sloppy people in church. I believe in the dress for success philosophy. My son went to a Catholic prep school and he had to wear a coat and tie all the time. To this day he still dresses properly at all times.
People will treat you according to how you are dressed. if you dress like a bum some people may assume you are a bum. The best Sunday clothing is a must for church and a sign of deep respect for the Lord.
I stopped going to church many many years ago. I really don't think God cares where you pray or what you're wearing when you so. This world is just too full of hypocritical people, all trying to impress each other.
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The older more traditional folks dress up... and they look nice. The more rural we are, the less dressup-ness we have.
