Church Clothes

   Last Sunday the temperature was not supposed to get above zero. In fact, I think that high was supposed to be -5. This prompted a friend of mine to post on Facebook that she would be wearing pants to church. This resulted in a short Facebook exchange regarding the wearing of pants to church.
  A little background is in order here. Female members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints tend to wear dresses or skirts to Sunday meetings. As far as I know there is no specific suggestion or commandment that governs this. The only "rule" for lack of a better term is that women and men are to dress modestly, neatly and be well groomed. Those who will participate in passing the Sacrament are strongly encouraged to wear white shirts and ties.
  I was already planning on wearing pants to church. When the temps get below zero, skirts and dresses are simply not practical especially if there is any chance that you might get stuck in your car. I responded that I would also be wearing pants.
  That exchange got me thinking about the whole idea of Sunday dress. Most of the time I have always worn a dress or skirt to church and even to work on the Sundays that I work. I never really thought about why.
  Part of it stems from the way I was brought up. Like many Lutheran girls back in my younger years, we wore dresses to church with dress shoes and dress socks or tights. We got a new church outfit twice a year once at Christmas and another on Easter. Wearing nicer clothes to church was something that everyone did. I know that my Dad always wore a suit to church except on the colder winter days when he would wear a sweater with his dress pants instead of his suit coat. You would never think to wear jeans (unless it was a jean skirt or jumper), tennis shoes or go without socks. It simply wasn't done.
  When I was a teen I started wearing high heels and nylon stockings. All the teenaged girls did this.  Now that I remember this I also remember that except for the really young girls, the skirt length was always below the knee. We didn't have the "kneel test" (hem of the skirt must touch the floor when kneeling) that was for the girls who went to the Baptist school and church on the other side of town. I never remember anyone wearing a short skirt.
  Why did we do this? I think somewhere along the line I remember being taught that it was out of respect for being in the House of the Lord. If you were going to meet and earthy king, queen or important person you would dress up. If you would do this for another human being, then you should do as much for your Heavenly King.
  One of my favourite books is a coffee table book called "Crowns" It is pictures of African American women wearing church hats. Along with the photographs are excepts from interviews with each woman. Two of them addresses the subject of dressing up for church. One of them, Addie Webster, said, "When I get dressed to go to church, I'm going to meet the King, so I must look my best." Shirley Manigault said this, "I think it grows out of the African American tradition that says when you present yourself before God, who is excellent and holy and the most high, there should be excellence in all things including your appearance."  Both of them sound about right to me.
  Times have changed though. I remember one time when I went back to visit my parents. It was a summer day and the kids who had gone to Bible school the week before were doing something during the church service. Many of the teens and older grade school children were wearing shorts. Some of the shorts were pretty short. I was shocked.
  I was also shocked when I started going back to church after not having gone for many years. I saw a couple of women wearing flip flops and no stockings. I couldn't believe it. It would never occur to me to do either. No one else seemed to mind or think it was out of the ordinary. It took me awhile to get used to it along with the of the shorter skirts that some women also wore.
  In the Facebook exchange that started all this pondering I thought I saw a post where one woman remarked that we (the LDS) believe that the Sabbath is holy and should be treated differently from the rest of the days of the week. One sign of this is clothing. We wear different clothing than we would the rest of the week. (I went back to the thread to get an exact quote and can't find it.) That is a good point and one that makes sense to me.
  The conclusion of a couple of the posts is that in the long run, what you wear to church really is not that important. The main point is that you are there for worship. Heavenly Father doesn't care so much about what you are wearing. He cares more about the type of person you are becoming on your journey through this life.