Sunday was one of those character building days. Many lessons learned and quite a few mistakes made. There was some yoga with a pastor’s child, some down and dirty honesty, much light and fluffiness and watching a Christian movie with my husband who didn’t grunt, moan or leave the room cos Huggy Bear was in it and was hooked on the story before he realised it had a Christian message.
There was the message I got whilst delivering the message in the second service – you gotta talk about the manure… I have written a bit about this but again the message is coming so I will write more about it.
There are a few reasons why I wear the same clothes I wear on Saturdays to church on Sunday. I hear and respect those who want to wear their best clothes to meet with the Lord and I totally get it but I meet him on Saturdays too and I might be walking in the hills or doing my shopping or driving or sitting on my couch vegging.
So what am I saying?
Well if we dress up to meet with the Lord once a week on a Sunday does that mean we don’t meet him all week?
Is it only people with “Sunday best” clothes can meet with the Lord?
Do we have to clean ourselves up before we go into church?
Do we have to clean ourselves up before we meet the Lord?
NO
Firstly we can’t clean ourselves
Focusing on what we wear means we are thinking about other people rather than the Lord
Physical appearance does not clean our hearts.
Secondly if we are meeting regularly with the Lord all week we know it is not our clothes he is talking to, it is our hearts.
BUT
Saturday I was in Cork and on the way home spilled hot chocolate over my baggy jeans and since the arse slapping incident have avoided wearing none baggy jeans to church. Am looking for some cords that I can wear all week including Sundays but thus far have only seen Tommy H ones that would blow my entire year’s clothes budget.
So Sunday arrived and I was preaching and last week had finally bought my “preacher” clothes but I had never intended to wear them in my home church, they were for other places that needed a non jeans/cords dress code. But also because of the slap, I didn’t want to wear anything too short with leggings. I wore tights once last year and got “oh you do have legs.” So again it is leggings or trousers of some description.
So I put on my “preacher” clothes and the only comment I got was “nice dress” or something like that from a lovely lady at the first service. All good?
Well no because I looked down at some point in the first service and realised I had bought a dress that looks like a pinny.
And not any old pinny, but a Mrs Overall style pinny. For me actually it was both humbling and beautiful. Humbling because I am old enough to remember women who wear pinnies or housecoats to do their work, and I was working. Humbling because I had tried to buy something stylish and cheap and ended up with something that other women take off to leave the house.
But BEAUTIFUL???
Yes because my Blue, she always wore a pinny except on a Sunday when she went to chapel and for the first time since I began this preaching journey did I feel that there was a nod to it from her. Tim said a few years ago after I had filled in for bible study, about how she would be proud of me. It seemed odd to me because she never made much of humans accomplishments. She was only proud of Jesus. Or she only boasted about Jesus. She got me involved in church, not so I could make her proud but so another soul was brought to him.
So looking down and getting a glimpse of the dress as a pinny made me laugh at myself and smile as I remembered Blue.
When clothes are our focus we are not focused on Christ. If we concentrate our gaze on him then all the distractions fall away. I ended up doing something I never have imagined myself doing. I cam home after church and got changed.
It felt so odd, so unlike me. But there is a lot happening to me these days that are unlike me. Maybe I need to just let it all happen, the pinnies, the conflict, the comments, let it all happen and let it go.
Because it doesn’t matter to me that frees me from being caught up in it. This is what is important:
Psalm 134
1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the Lord.
3 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
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