Today's Scripture Reading (May 12, 2023): Jeremiah 6
I
grew up in a church where everyone was expected to wear their "Sunday
Best." Even as a kid, I usually wore a suit and tie on Sunday Mornings.
You would never see me in jeans and a T-Shirt at church, although that was how
I would have preferred to dress. Jeans and a T-Shirt were acceptable for
school, but not church. Everyone came wearing their best; beautiful dresses,
suits and ties, and, if appropriate, elaborate hats that set the congregation
apart from the outside world. I remember one pastor who wore a bright white
suit every Sunday morning. If I started to wear that today, the people at my
church would wonder if we had transformed into some sort of a cult. (I never
really got along with my white-suited pastor, so maybe it was back then too.
Yes, I am joking.)
It
isn't that way today. Sometimes I wonder if people are showing up in their
pajamas. I know that they aren't, but sometimes it looks like, for some people,
every Sunday is pajama day. My worship leader always wears jeans and a T-Shirt.
I don't wear jeans, but I often wear a T-Shirt, and I rarely wear a tie, even
though my closet is filled with them. And if I do wear a tie, I favor one that
features Spiderman or another cartoon figure rather than one that might have
been worn by a pastor when I was a kid. And when I do wear a cartoon tie, there
is a little shock from those who see me but don't know me.
But
I know that not everyone is happy with the current dress customs in the church.
One person told me they were leaving the church because of the lax dress code.
What surprised me was that the one leaving was someone who always wore a T-Shirt
and jeans to the Worship Service. I mentioned that she could dress up for church;
many did, if that was what she wanted. She explained that she never would
unless someone forced her to wear a dress. So, she would leave for a church
that demanded a higher dress code rather than making it optional.
However,
your Sunday best is not and has never been a path to God. I am convinced that
God does not care what you wear to church. Your dress or tie will never make
you holy. My response to people who ask what they should wear is, "Wear
something clean that you want to wear." What makes you a Christian is accepting
Jesus Christ and not what you wear when you attend church.
Jeremiah
is preaching a similar message to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jerusalem's
population prided themselves on the quality of their worship. They used only
the best incense, often importing frankincense from Sheba. They imported the
best calamus, a sweet-smelling flowering plant containing psychoactive
chemicals, from distant lands. But those things could never make their worship
acceptable to God. And just like a beautiful Temple does not raise the quality
of respect given to God, wearing your "Sunday Best" doesn't make you
a better worshipper. Even the best incense could not cover up the unwillingness
of the people's rejection of God's word and his ways. And God has always
desired obedience from his children rather than spectacular sacrifice.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 7
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