Sunday Morning Costumes

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Man made doctrines like "give your best to God" are often cloaks for clerical control that compartmentalize rich and poor and sustain ethnic and class divisions, but what else should we expect from a dualistic Christianity?

With dualism, we expect to look and act differently when "religious" than while we are "in the world."

When a foundational part of western Christianity's hermeneutic is to be "called out" of the world (which is NOT what ekklesia means--it was a political assembly called together), and when we view worship as "separate from the rest of life," then there are bound to be manifestations like dressing up for church to show that you are giving your best to God.

Here is yet another inherited "doctrine" that in many places in the institutional churches is a cause of division (Rom. 16:17), perhaps because people fear an established hierarchy, and/or they have been taught that this human tradition is another factor of "faithfulness." If not in word, then certainly by example.

When and where did our modern practice originate? As we will see from James 2:1-13, it was not first century Christianity.

In Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices,

Frank Viola writes:

"Admittedly the dress has become more casual in a number of churches over the past few decades. A person dressed in denim can walk into the sanctuaries of many churches today without getting dirty looks. Yet dressing up for church is still a common practice in many churches. The practice of dressing up for church is a relatively recent phenomenon."

"It began in the late-eighteenth century with the Industrial Revolution, and it became widespread in the mid-nineteenth century. Before this time, "dressing up" for social events was known only among the very wealthy."

"With the invention of mass textile manufacturing and the development of urban society. Fine clothes became more affordable to the common people. The middle class was born, and those within it were able to emulate the envied aristocracy. For the first time, the middle class could distinguish themselves from the peasants. To demonstrate their newly improved status, they could now "dress up" for social events just like the well-to-do."

"Some groups in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries resisted this cultural trend. John Wesley wrote against wearing expensive or flashy clothing. The early Methodists so resisted the idea of dressing up for church that they turned away anyone who wore expensive clothing to their meetings. The early Baptists also condemned fine clothing, teaching that it separated the rich from the poor."

"Despite these protests, mainstream Christians began wearing fine clothes whenever they could. The growing middle class prospered, desiring bigger homes, larger church buildings, and fancier clothing. As the Victorian enculturation of the middle class grew, fancier church buildings began to draw more influential people in society."

"This all came to a head when in 1843, Horace Bushnell, an influential Congregational minister in Connecticut, published an essay called "Taste and Fashion." In it, Bushnell argued that sophistication and refinement were attributes of God and that Christians should emulate them. Thus was born the idea of dressing up for church to honor God. Church members now worshiped in elaborately decorated buildings sporting their formal clothes to honor God."

"In 1846, a Virginia Presbyterian named William Henry Foote wrote that "a church-going people are a dress loving people." This statement simply expressed the formal dress ritual that mainstream Christians had adopted when going to church. The trend was so powerful that by the 1850s, even the "formal-dress-resistant" Methodists got absorbed by it. And they, too, began wearing their Sunday best to church."

"Accordingly, as with virtually every other accepted church practice, dressing up for church is the result of Christians being influenced by their surrounding culture. Today, many Christians "suit up" for Sunday morning church without ever asking why. But now you know the story behind this mindless custom. It is purely the result of nineteenth-century middle-class efforts to become like their wealthy aristocrat contemporaries, showing off their improved status by their clothing. This effort was also helped along by Victorian notions of respectability. It has nothing to do with the Bible, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit."

James writes,

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, "You shall not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Someone may answer that we do not discriminate against the poor. They may sit anywhere in our auditorium just like the rest of us, but this misses my point.

In James' day, they met for a banquet meal and those with lesser status were expected to "stand" or "sit on the floor"--not at the table. Our modern equivalent is "dressing up for church" during the "worship hour." Those who do not are treated differently than those who do on the basis of a man-made doctrine.

So rather than "giving our best to God" by dressing up for church, it seems we have, in reality, institutionalized the division that God condemns between rich and poor. And James says that God sides with the poor. Not necessarily a good thing to be dressed up for church in that case, is it?

My hope is that we will continue to recognize more and more why we "do church" the way we do today, and speak up.

_______________________________

Frank Viola; George Barna. Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices. Kindle Edition.

Your First Triathlon by Joe Friel

With my first triathlon 4 weeks away, needless to say I am a little nervous! A few weeks ago when I decided I wanted to train for and participate in triathlons, I had just completed my second marathon. This past Saturday, I finished my fifth marathon in four months. 

I am not a fast runner. In fact, I ran progressively slower each successive marathon, but I was not running them for PR's (personal records). Okay, during the second one I took a needless bathroom break at mile 17 because I "felt" 10 minutes ahead of my pace in first marathon and missed a PR by 32 seconds! (I'm over it now). But it is true that, for the most part, I ran the five marathons for endurance which is how beginner triathletes, like me, need to train. 

I finished reading Your First Triathlon by Joe Friel about a month ago and have benefited greatly from having it on hand the closer the date for my first tri approaches. I have been swimming in the local wellness center pool for about a month now, and I am improving each time I swim. The scariest thing to me about participating in a triathlon is the open water swim (OWS). Friel gives sound advice on the necessity of respecting an open water swim. 

Assumed Dualism in Christianity: What It Is & How to Notice It

Occasionally, we hear stories about families who are faced with the reality of a disease they were not aware even existed. Or, perhaps, we hear of a condition someone has, but we really do not understand how it affects those close to it. In these situations not being aware does not effect the presence or reality of the disease or condition. What has changed is the awareness of those now affected.

From the day awareness is increased, however, we attempt to learn all we can about that which has begun to affect every part of the way life must now be lived. It may also be true that we live with a condition for a length of time but never realize we are being affected by it. It is from this last standpoint that I hope to increase our awareness about the concept of assumed dualism in Christianity.

In a previous article I mentioned that our beliefs, or conclusions, about what "the Bible says" are only as valid as the assumptions on which they are based. Dualism is an assumption that affects our interpretation of various passages in the Bible, and therefore, our conclusions or beliefs about what the Bible says in those verses.

To illustrate how assumptions affect our lives, for example: if you have been taught, by those you trust from previous generations, that baptism is sprinkling, or pouring (forms of washing), instead of immersion (to dip, plunge, be submerged), then your conclusions/beliefs about what it means to "be baptized" will be affected. This is turn will affect what you do concerning the Biblical command to "be baptized." In a more general way, the way we live life is based on our worldview which forms our cultural lifestyles concerning "religion" being separate from "secular" life.

For some of us, we may think that we have understood what "being baptized" means and never give consideration that we have not done just as those in the Bible. However, because of our assumptions inherited from church traditions, often based on the interpretation of only a few people who agree with one another and which are handed down from generation to generation, our conclusion may be faulty. Similarly, for others, the way Christians have come to view worship--and indeed living the Christian life itself--is affected by our assumptions from the teachings of historically recent and select preachers many of which are based on dualism.