posted April 13, 2012 06:52 AM            

One point of view is that people should dress up for church/other services, as a way of showing respect. It could also be seen as a way of "bringing your best": a sort-of outward representation of bringing your best to God/offering God your best, both inside and outside, and of being a good steward of your body by doing the best that you can, within your means, to look nice and take care of yourself.

The other point of view is that God loves all as they are, and people should come as they are, and not worry about what they look like at worship, as worship is what's important.

Another thing that comes up is modesty. Different religions/denominations obviously have varying ideas about what they consider "modest", but I will simply define it here as having nothing inappropriate showing, basically following a work-appropriate dress code, being reasonably covered up without being covered completely, nothing hanging out, appropriate length, things like that.

And, again, others would say that none of that matters, and that it's OK to come as you are, no matter what.

Opinions?

posted April 13, 2012 09:08 PM            

When attending Christian churches I've always dressed up. As a child this was because Granny made me (about the only time I wore a dress back then was to go to church, which is to say I almost never wore one as I was such a tomboy back then).

I know there was some vanity involved in dressing up, too, in that someone who didn't dress up was often thought of as too poor to afford proper clothes and so pitied (or even looked down on as being too poor to dress up properly was thought to reflect poor morals and a lack of God's blessings) and that alone encouraged many to show up (and make their kids show up) in their Sunday best.

posted April 14, 2012 04:07 PM            

Good question, Platero. I was just talking about this with my husband today; I saw a picture of Tim Tebow speaking to 15,000 people on Easter...in jeans and an unbuttoned shirt!

I dress up for church and like it when others do, too. I want church to be different from other activities, I want a sense of the sacred in my life, and dressing differently just helps me get in touch with that.

I have a huge Irish Catholic family and over 30 first cousins on my dad's side. All of us older ones inherited some of the strict formality that was imposed by my grandparents on their children.

But it seems to have worn off over the years, and I have to say, when my young cousins show up for family funerals in jeans, hokey jewelry, and shredded tank tops, I am borderline offended. To me it looks like, they don't even care that their aunt or uncle died. So why bother coming at all.