Vol. XXXVIII September 5, 2006 No 9
DRESSING FOR WORSHIP
by Tom McLemore
Should people dress up for worship? Should the men leading in the worship dress up? Should people dress up for Sunday morning and not for Sunday night and Wednesday night? Times have changed, and with them, the culture. The assembly and life of the church have not been unaffected by these developments. One of the major concerns of many Christians is over where it might be possible to accommodate new cultural norms and views while still being faithful to God and Christ by faithfully following the Scriptures. Among the many areas of church life in which the effects of culture may clearly be seen is the move toward more casual dress on the part of those who attend the worship assembly. There is a more casual approach both to dress in general in the worship, as well as to how people dress for particular assemblies as opposed to others.
How people are dressed when they come to worship is not the problem. That is merely the symptom of the problem. As long as the discussions fail to get the real problem before the minds of the people, the symptom will not be eradicated. The problem is the view many of us seem to have regarding the assembly for worship. It is clear that in the minds of many it has shifted from one category to another, viz., from the category of special, formal occasions to the category of ordinary, informal occasions. This explains the movement to more casual dress during worship. There is never any question about whether one should dress formally for a formal occasion or casually for a casual occasion. Most people do not have any trouble understanding that when one attends something special one dresses differently than when one attends something ordinary! I am not personally acquainted with a single person who does not dress up for some occasion! The issue is what occasions one puts in the category of “occasions when one dresses up!” So, the simple fact is that some have moved the assembly for worship into a category with ordinary, informal things, and thus, they dress casually for worship just as they do for all the other occasions in the category into which they have moved worship.
The shift in viewpoint is manifested not only in the trend toward more casual dress. It may also explain the increasingly lackadaisical manner in which so many of our people approach worship itself. Little preparation. Little concentration. Little enthusiasm. No need to be on time for worship (though always on time for games, school, work, weddings, funerals, etc.). An “anything will do” in the worship of God (but only the finest for parties and personal celebrations) attitude is increasingly manifesting itself. While no amount of dressing up will make up for these deficiencies, they go hand in hand with why so many folks are dressing down. The issue is not whether God looks on the outward appearance or not. The issue is not even how our outward appearance is looked upon by others. The issue is how we look upon the worship! It is an inescapable fact that the manner in which we chose to dress (as well as our demeanor) is an index of our attitude toward, and view regarding the nature of, the worship assembly.
How does the Bible speak of “things pertaining to God” (Hebrews 5:1)? In a word, the assembly for worship is holy. The church is a holy temple and habitation of the Lord through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:20-22). The saints are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). While, in a sense, these things are true of us when we are not assembled, they are equally and especially true when we are assembled. The essential idea of holiness is “set apart for holy purposes.” When God’s holy people are gathered for holy worship of the holy God, that gathering is anything but ordinary and common! As God told Moses, “the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5; cf. Acts 7:33). Rather than a common, ordinary event, the holy assembly of God’s people is a special, extraordinary occasion.
What has led our people to be comfortable in thinking of the assembly for worship as an informal, casual occasion? As Paul observed, “Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you” (Galatians 5:8). One simply is not led by a prayerful consideration of the Holy Scriptures, a reverent desire to increase his awareness of the transcendence and holiness of God, or any other noble, spiritual aspiration, to dress casually for the worship. Only worldly, human values and fleshly thinking lead a person toward the attitude which is manifested by choosing to dress casually for the worship.
The salient principle is stated by the LORD in this oracle to his priest (and in the New Testament church every Christian is a priest): “You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean. . .” (Leviticus 10:10). In Ezekiel 22:26, the prophet expressed this indictment against the land of Israel: “Its priests have done violence to my teaching and have profaned my holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.” Clearly, when the holy things of God are profaned, God is profaned. As Ezekiel foresaw the Christian age in terms of an ideal temple, he observed in the vision that “ . . . it had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to make a separation between the holy and the common” (Ezekiel 42:20). Furthermore, prophesying concerning the priesthood of God’s people, he wrote, “They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean” (Ezekiel 44:23).
It may be that some are concerned about the church’s becoming inordinately ritualistic. That is a serious concern. It is possible for us to be so concerned with the formal aspects of the assembly that our hearts are not in it (cf. Matthew 15:7-9). However, there is a danger of confusing ritualism with formality. One must not assume that because something is formal it is a meaningless ritual. I would imagine that every wedding ceremony has some formality to it, yet it is very meaningful to the couple being married and to everyone who loves them. There is still merit in letting all things be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40). The true and right alternative to ritualism in the worship of the Almighty God is genuineness, not informality and casualness!
Now, let us briefly touch on the matter of how those who lead in the worship should dress. If it is necessary for those who lead in worship to dress more formally but not from the worshipers in the pews, why one but not the other? Are not all equally to be engaged in worship, whether leading or being led? Is it more important for those who serve at the Lord’s Table to dress more formally than for those who lead in prayer or read scripture, etc.? If so, upon what scriptural basis does one distinguish between the various acts? It should be evident from what has been said thus far that the matter of how those who lead in worship dress is one and the same as how anyone present in the assembly dresses.
What about Sunday night and Wednesday night? It would appear that many view the Sunday morning assembly as being more formal than Sunday evening. But on what basis? The distinction between Lord’s Day morning and Lord’s Day evening is human rather than divine. It is still the Lord’s Day. Except in cases where the Lord’s Supper is served in a separate place than where the assembly is held on Sunday evening, precisely the same activities (all fitting under the rubric of worship) occur in the evening assembly as in the morning assembly. God and Christ are just as much in presence and audience in one as in the other. While some seem to think of both as being equally formal or informal, many seem to think of Sunday evening assembly and communion as being less formal than Sunday morning.
It is quite rare for anyone who dresses more formally on Sunday morning (and in some cases on Sunday evening) to dress that way on Wednesday evening. Of course, all of us can distinguish between Sunday and Wednesday. Wednesday is not the Lord’s Day, and our custom is to meet primarily for Bible study and “devotional.” Since the first day of the week is Lord’s Day in distinction from all the other days, and since the Lord’s Day is the day for the church to meet together to observe the Lord’s Supper, it would seem that it is justifiable and desirable to consider assemblies on other days to be less formal and more ordinary. Were we to treat Wednesday, for instance, as though it were the Lord’s Day, we would be equally guilty of failing to distinguish between the holy and the profane as we are when we fail to recognize the assembly of the church on the Lord’s Day as a special, extraordinary occasion.
What about visitors who come into the assembly who are not dressed up? Such visitors should, of course, be welcomed as warmly as they should be if they were dressed up. Naturally, every effort would be made to avoid any insinuation that such persons were not welcome because of the manner in which they were dressed. On the other hand, we must avoid allowing such eventualities to determine our response to the nature of the assembly for worship. The worship assembly is exclusively a matter of saints worshiping their God. We desire for a visitor who observes to be able to see the church dressed and behaving as if something as special as God’s being among us were taking place (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:23-25), because it IS! Indeed, I can think of no greater acted sermon on the special way in which the church views the holy worship assembly than dressing and behaving accordingly.
Whenever our people recover the view that worship is something on a different level and in a different category than a vacation, a trip to the zoo, a ball game, summer camp, or even Vacation Bible School, they will dress accordingly. They will realize that if one dresses accordingly for special occasions and events, then worship is the most special of all the events in the category of special events in which it rightfully belongs. As Christians reach the maturity that comes from skill in the word of righteousness and from having their faculties exercised by practice to discern both good and evil, their dress for worship will reflect their correct understanding of the nature of the worship assembly. When everyone develops the proper attitude about worship, we will not only see people dressing appropriately for the assembly, but we will see tremendous improvements in every aspect of our performance in the exercise of this sacred privilege of drawing near to the throne of grace!
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