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From: nlt@duke.UUCP (N. L. Tinkham)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Church Discipline (Dressing for Church)
Message-ID: <4836@duke.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 28-Sep-84 14:49:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: duke.4836
Posted: Fri Sep 28 14:49:00 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 29-Sep-84 10:08:58 EDT
Organization: Duke University
Lines: 27

Mark Terribile, on "dressing up" for church:

> Why dress?  Well, for one thing it is a token of respect and dignity.  If
> you were told that you had an interview with Christ Jesus, how would you
> prepare?  You probably wouldn't try to impress Him with your clothing, but
> you would wear clothing that indicated your respect for Him, wouldn't you?
>
> Well, what is attending a worship service about?


   Would I dress up for an interview with Christ Jesus?  I wonder...
There's a certain logic to it:  I would dress up to meet the President,
or the Prince of Wales, or the Pope, and Christ is certainly more important
-- higher in status, if you wish -- than these dignitaries.
   Yet -- it is different, different because Christ is not only "above" but
also "within" us, different because of the intimacy of what we do in worship.
Yes, we approach in awe and reverence, but we approach also the one who
knows us better than we know ourselves, as the saying goes; we approach
the one before whom all pretence is useless.  I suspect that, except for
the sake of ceremony, style of dress is rather irrelevant in worship.
   How do we dress for private prayer?  Isn't that "an interview with
Christ Jesus", after a fashion?  It never occurs to me that I ought
to dress up to pray.  I generally wear whatever I already happen to have on.
   Unless, of course, someone else is watching me. And I am watching them.

                                        N. L. Tinkham
                                        duke!nlt