Many churches today consider themselves free from all the tradition of
religion. They think they are delivered from the chains of looking, acting, dressing,
worshiping, and behaving a certain way on the basis of how they have been
taught to live. But really, how free is the church? Sure they don’t have to
wear dresses, or suits with ties, and they don’t have to sing the standard 3
hymns followed by an offering, special singer and then the sermon. But when
looking closer, how free is it, how delivered is the church?
Sometimes it feels like dress is a competition. Who can have the most
anti-religious outfit? Who can dye their hair the most outrageous color? Who
can look the most anti-church this
Sunday? When visiting a new church one of the first things noticed is how they
all dress. When attending a church that is based on the “older” model of
churches, there are beautiful dresses, and crisp men’s suits. It’s funny how
clone like the families can sometimes be. If there are children in the family,
their outfits generally match their counter parent. If there is another child
of the same sex, they are usually dressed similarly or even identically (if the
parents got lucky while shopping). When visiting a church that is based on the
“newer” model of churches, it’s easy to notice how…eccentric the clothing can
be. Everyone has to look cool, and different from every one of the others.
After a while the scene begins to make my brain fuzzy. There are those with
normal hair, and those with rainbow hair. There are those whom dress stylish,
but not “churchy” and then there are those that look as though they jumped out
of a punk rock magazine. The point here is that it doesn’t matter what kind of
church you are going to, there is a dress code.
One thing that is not enjoyable about the church is the cliques that make
it up. Most churches pride themselves on accepting everyone without judgment.
“Everyone has a place,” but the important thing here is, where an individual’s
place is. Even though they say everyone
has a place, there is still the “in crowd.” Every Sunday the people get out of their
cars in their churches appropriate attire and walk into church. Once through the
doors though it’s about who’s talking with whom. And if someone gets left out,
they automatically assume that maybe they don’t really belong there. If the
“cool” people don’t shake their hand, or hug their necks then they feel
excluded, as though the “cool” crowd’s acceptance is what makes someone belong
to a church. Is this really any different from the world? No, no matter where
you go there are cliques. Whether the clique is the choir in robes, or football
gear, it’s still a clique.
These things are said not to bash
the church. The church is amazing, and has great potential. Many churches have
set great examples and have already accomplished so much, however there is
still so much more that can be done. What these things are said for is to issue
a challenge. This challenge is for any and everyone that calls themselves
believers. This is a challenge to love. It
has been said many times before that Christians are supposed to love everyone.
Jesus says “to love your neighbor as yourself,” (Matthew 22:29 KJV) Galatians
5:14 reminds us again to keep this command, and again we are told to love
people in James 2:8. So many times people lash out in their anger, and forget
to love. This command should not be taken lightly. So before you decide to
ignore the person in the line at the market, before you yell at a child, before
making someone cry, before taking revenge, before whatever is going on in
present time, think about love.
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