Is that all you could find?

The other day before our worship service began, I was having a conversation with an older member. By coincidence I was wearing blue jeans, as were a few other musicians on the worship team. This older member commented that it would never have been like that 20 years ago. His generation does, and always has, worn a white shirt, tie, and coat to church, every week. No exceptions.

So I said, what if I did not have any "nice" clothes (nice by his definition) Am I still welcome? Isn't it about presenting ourselves to God? And coming to the weekly communal worship?

"Oh, you would be welcome," he said, "but you would get more than a few looks."

Wow.

Does this attitude surprise me? Not at all. What really surprises me is that this gentleman, and in general his entire generation at my church, feel that appropriate dress is a reasonable prerequisite to attending worship in our sanctuary.

In the end, all I could do is pity this man and all of those like him. They are in their own little world of Christianity. It's a very private place, but it is all they have. They have no idea what they are missing, and so it is virtually impossible to convince them that there is so much more. Do I think this is unusual? Nope. And more so, it is probably the norm in most of the mainstream churches in the US. It is my sincere hope that church could be all about Jesus, but alas this earthly vale of tears makes it almost impossible.

Shalom.