How casual is too casual (or risque) for church?

He was asking a question, not telling you how do dress.

 

coffee and donuts in the parish hall?

 

I understand the link he's trying to make between dress and respect/deference to God, and I don't disagree with the concept. Respect and humility before God are crucial to meaningful worship. You cannot connect with Him without it.

But my belief and my experience is that the attitude is not dependent on the dress. The most meaningful worship experiences of my life have occurred while I was in shorts and a t-shirt. And to be honest, I've only had a handful of special worship experiences -- the ones where you really feel the connection -- in church. One of them was last Sunday, though. I wept like a baby almost the whole time. It was awesome.

The Hawaiian print shirt is kind of an inside joke thing at our church -- our senior pastor wears them most of the time, and it just kinda caught on with the men of the church. For me, dressing casual is about focus. If I'm comfortable, I can more easily focus on God, which is what I'm there to do. And it's also been my experience that casual dress has a relaxing effect on new people just visiting the church, too. If they see all the regular attenders in khakis and polo shirts or Hawaiian print, they usually understand that they don't have to impress anyone to be accepted.

Just like family, which is precisely what the church is supposed to be.

For the record, I'm not saying my way is the only way. Far from it! Like I said before, it's about comfort. If you want to dress nice out of respect for the Lord, go for it! There are several people in my church who choose to do so.

I believe worship happens because of a state of mind. It's about connecting with God at the heart. That sounds a little hokey, but I don't know how else to explain it. Without that state of mind, it doesn't matter what you do -- the connection won't happen. With that state of mind, it doesn't matter what you wear -- you will feel the warmth of God's embrace.

 

You can have coffee and donuts anywhere.

 

You have an interesting outlook, hb. Formal dress is not required for church attendance, but a formal baptism is a requirement for salvation. Hmmmm.


I'm not sniping, by the way.

 

I Never said baptism was required for salvation. That's a Catholic doctrine.

 

Oooohhhhh! Imma get you on that one. As soon as I motivate myself to look through those threads.

 

If ya feel froggy, JUMP!

Just to clarify, I never said baptism with water was required for salvation. Baptism by the Holy Spirit is.

 

but the KofC only serves them in the parish hall on sunday.

 

It boils down to the purpose of church. As far as I know (and correct me if I'm wrong), going to church is not required for salvation. I'd take that to mean that God doesn't care that much if you go to church. In other words, you don't go to church for God, but you go to connect with people in God's name to espouse what you believe to be His views and wishes. I think it's obvious in general that God doesn't care what people wear. However, since church is a human activity, does dressing well for it mean something or help promote the purpose of church in some way? I believe it does for the sole reason that anytime you get dressed up for anything, there's a process involved in doing it. The act of thinking about and ultimately dressing up has a psychological affect on people that makes them acknowledge and feel on a conscious and subconscious level that they are about to participate in something special and reminds them to appreciate the service. I think dressing up is a lost art, and sort of a negative reflection on how each of our pre-American cultures and American culture itself is sort of disintegrating.