If you are from outside of the Boston area, and/or are from outside of the Washington, DC area you may not even know who Michael Graham is. Michael is a popular “afternoon drive” radio talk show host who broadcasts on Boston’s WTKK “96.9 FMTalk”. Graham was actually fired from his radio gig at a big Washington, DC station less than a year ago. I feel bad he got fired, but I also say, “thank God!”. He’s brought such a fresh and interesting perspective to Boston radio, AND the guy’s a riot!
Michael has a lot to say about illegal aliens, the Iraq war, even the killing of turkeys in Canton, MA for that matter, but my title, “COULD MICHAEL GRAHAM BE RIGHT?” is not about any of those issues. Michael has some interesting observations about how people DRESS for CHURCH ATTENDANCE. That’s what I want to talk about just before Easter.
Although Michael grew up in an evangelical Protestant home in the South and graduated from Oral Robers University, he married a Roman Catholic girl and is raising his kids as Catholics. He also attends the Catholic church with his family. (For you evangelicals, I know ... I know ... how could he do that? etc. ...but that’s not the topic of this posting.) Michael Graham has observed on several occasions that the people at Catholic masses he has attended dress like bums. Well, “bums” is my word, but I think Michael has a good point. It’s not limited to the Catholic church, however. The trend in all churches, with the exception of African-American churches (and most Hispanic churches) is that people absolutely dress like slobs. In the Catholic church, that trend was beginning as far back as the middle 1970s. Many of my peers began dressing like they were going out to mow the lawn when they went to church. My parents, especially my Dad, were VERY strict about the proper way to dress for church. Back in the 1970s when I was a young adult, I always dressed up for church.
When I was a new Assembiles of God minister in the early 1980s all A/G ministers dressed really nice for church, and MOST A/G laypeople did also. I hope I won’t get any nasty letters about this, but I think the group that started the trend toward casual dress in evangelical circles is Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Now, I’ve got friends in “the Vineyard”, at times I’ve worshipped at the Framingham, MA “Vineyard” church, and I LOVE most of the “Vineyard” music- and we use a lot of it at our church. But the Vineyard look is casual AND I MEAN CASUAL. It started at Vineyard Christian Fellowship thirty years ago, but today casual dress among evangelicals at church is the norm. Have you ever seen Rick Warren, author of the “Purpose Driven...” books? Any time I’ve ever seen him interviewed on television he’s wearing a bright, open-collared Hawaiian shirt- and he’s overweight, to boot, so that makes the shirt look worse. He just doesn’t LOOK like a pastor... I’m sorry, but he doesn’t.
Now, I do realize we have to be open for people to “come as they are” to church (see James chapter 2) and I fully agree with that. AND, I realize that Easter Sunday is the one Sunday that people tend to dress up- they tend to RIDICULOUSLY dress up to show off their fancy and expensive clothes. (I’ll be wearing one of my semi-worn-out off-the-rack suits for Easter- no expensive stuff for me!) I realize we CAN make far too much of dress and appearance, and I know that putting dress and appearance above all else would definitely be wrong. I know I probably sound like “an old fuddy duddy”. It’s just that Michael Graham has brought this up and spent time on his show discussing it several times. He’s at least eight years younger than I am, but I find it interesting that he obviously feels the same way I do about appropriate attire for church.
Just curious, how do YOU feel about it? Could Michael Graham be right?
Now, I DO know the Bible says, “...whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God”. (I Corinthians 10:31)
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3 comments:
personally, i'm indifferent about dressing up for church. i may wear nice pants and a nice shirt one week and wear jeans the next. i try not go go looking like a bum tho. I just don't really understand where the whole dressing up for church thing came from.
I like Michael Graham and thinks he makes a very good point. I come from the generation where women wore hats to church and men wore suits. Maybe that's why I like movies that are set in the 50's. It helps to remember how people used to dress in those days. I realize we'll never go back to that, but I would like to see people dressed a little more formally than they presently do when they go to church. Girls wearing clothes that make them look like street walkers, boys that wear pants dragging on the ground turn me off anytime, but when they wear these same things to church, it really turns me off. Men who wear clothes that look like they're ready to go jogging also turn me off. Ditto women who look ready to go to the beach. Just my opinion.
This is a pretty sensitive subject....
I like to think you should have a happy medium between looking like a homeless person and looking like a frilly 19th century plantation owner (this does not include people who dress all casual because they have nothing else or because they're new and don't know better). I frown on shorts and mini skirts being worn in church, unless you're in Equitor... but for the most part I think people should dress in a way where they think they look nice and are not too uncomfortable (because if you spend the whole service feeling awkward, you won't pay attention). And stay away from clothes with rips.
I usually wear a nice shirt and pants or jeans... but I think church leaders should wear suits and look nice, so that I can pick them out right away and so that they set an example.
If you're a girl, my advice is to not wear anything to church that's so revealing that makes everyone (especially the boys) focus their attention on you instead of on the service and God. Modesty is the best policy.
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