Blog
“Dressing for the Assembly”
Categories: M. W. Bassford, Meditations
Sometimes, it seems that certain spiritual topics keep coming up in conversation. For me recently, that topic has been the necessity of dressing up in church. Both in person and online, I’ve participated in a number of earnest discussions on the subject. I thought it would be worthwhile, then, to share my thoughts on the matter.
First, I want to address the idea that our clothing choices in the assembly are about God. Proponents of this view will ask whether we would dress up to see an important human being (the President, for instance) and conclude that we ought to dress up even more to come into the presence of the King of heaven.
The problem with the argument, though, is that it assumes that God is like us, and that we communicate respect to Him in the same way that we do to other humans. According to Scripture, that’s not true. 1 Samuel 16:7 reports that God looks at the heart, not the outward appearance.
He doesn’t have to judge our reverence for Him based on how we dress. He knows the truth. The reverent heart is acceptable to him, regardless of outward appearance, and the irreverent heart isn’t, again regardless of outward appearance.
Instead, we dress for one another. That’s fine. God is mindful of our frame, and He knows that we are silly creatures who use colored bits of cloth wrapped around our bodies to communicate an astounding variety of messages about ourselves.
Indeed, even the commandments that God issues about clothing make it evident that He is concerned with its impact on other humans. He is not affected by our nakedness. He sees it anyway. He is not intimidated by our ostentatious displays of wealth. The earth is His, and all it contains. However, He knows that we care about those things, so He instructs us to dress in a way that will not hinder others.
Here, I think, is the principle that should guide us as we decide how we should dress for the assembly (and everywhere else, for that matter). How can we dress in a way that will serve others and help them on to heaven?
This is a simple question with a complex answer. For instance, there is a sister who worships with my congregation sometimes who struggles with crippling anxiety. She doesn’t have much money, and she feels like she doesn’t belong. I am certain that the only time in her life when she encounters men in suits is when she comes to church. Every time I see her, I try to reassure her that she has a place with us. Is it possible, though, that my suit is sending a different message than my mouth is?
On the other end of the scale, I know there are brethren at Jackson Heights who aren’t comfortable when I preach a sermon without a coat on. They are very gracious about it and never would confront me, but they are quick to tell me how nice I look when I do wear a coat! These are good people who are entitled to respect from me, and I need to take them into account in the way that I dress too.
Typically, I end up wearing a coat sometimes and resorting to shirt and tie the rest of the time, and I hope that the combination makes my preaching as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. In other places, the correct answer may be “coat all the time”, “coat never”, or even “tie never”. By contrast, a one-size-fits-all answer arrived at without regard for the people involved is frequently going to be wrong.
In short, love others. Dress accordingly. Your judgment won’t be right in every instance, but in every instance, your spirit will be pleasing to God.
