Casual Sundays and the Right to Wear a suit
Considering that I'm a pastor and this is a blog that usually focuses either on religion or politics (and often their intersection), you probably are reading this and expecting to hear a plea for a church dress code. Although there is room for discussion about whether church has become too casual.
No, I read this article in the SF Chronicle online page -- it's about Mike Nolan's request to wear a suit on the sidelines of San Francisco 49ers games. There was a a time -- think Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi -- that NFL coaches wore suits on Sunday. NBA coaches still wear suits. But marketing agreements are king in our society, and apparently an agreement between the NFL and Reebok requires coaches to wear Rebook produced team wear. Mike Nolan, whose father coached the 49ers when I was a kid, wants to wear a suit in honor of his father -- Dick Nolan -- and other coaches of a different era. Well, Reebok has relented and Mike can wear a suit on Sundays. My where is the world coming too when someone wants to wear a suit when they don't have too!!!
Of course, Reebok could get in the tie business -- could even run a line of denominational ties for those of us who wear ties on Sundays for different reasons!
Comments
As for suits in church--no thanks. It was the biggest thing I hated about going to church as a kid. Numero Uno. Even though I had issues with the church I visited last week, one thing I liked was that I wasn't out of place in my blue jeans.
The same thing goes for the players that dress up just to walk from the bus to the locker room. The entire reason you play professional sports is so you don't have to dress up and get a "real" job.
I guess the grass is always greener on the other side of the fense. I spent too many years in the fortune 500 environment wearing a suit. I wouldn't go back for twice the money. The same is true for church. I wouldn't wear a suit to church or go to a church that expected it.
About 10 years ago when I switched churches, my wife and I attended every church in the area and I wore the worst clothes I could find. My wife didn't care much for this but I did it anyway. I dressed like a complete bum just to get a reaction. After a couple of months, we used the valuable information we gathered by the reactions of each church to determine which church we would make our home. Only one church really seemed to welcome me. We were there for over 8 years.
I always thought it looked kinda classy for football coaches to wear a coat & tie. I enjoy donning the garb myself now and then, but I don't like to make a habit of it. My current congregation is a "come as you are" group; when the regional minister last visited, we got him to remove his tie, and I think he enjoyed himself.
I've always believed that God doesn't care what people wear to church, but is more concerned about what's going on inside. It used to be that wearing nice duds to church was a sign of reverence and respect, but it doesn't really seem to indicate that anymore. I just read the "My Turn" column in the last Newsweek, written by a nudist, and it makes me wonder whether it wouldn't be better to just forgo clothes altogether...after all, we wouldn't then be distracted by seeing who wore what to church. Of course, we'd then have to deal with the loss of appetite that would result from people who look like me going to church in the buff.
Does anybody want to make a serious argument that church is getting too casual?