Liberty Advocate

http://www.libertyadvocate.com

No Reverence

in 

God's House

by

Karen Pansler Lam, J.D.

Today there is no reverence for the house of God. 

Today there is no respect for the house of God.

If we were invited to a state dinner at the White House, naturally we would wear our best clothes to the President's house.  Right?

So, then why do we casually wear whatever makes us "feel comfortable" when we are invited to God’s house?

Why do professing Christians show disrespect for God’s house by wearing casual clothes, and make no proper physical or spiritual preparation to "come and dine" with the Lord?

In 1999, some people publicly chastised Martha Stewart for wearing a pink pants suit to a White House state dinner.  She disregarded White House protocol by wearing short pink pants in the evening.  Frankly, she should have known better.  Formal clothes are appropriate for special occasions, especially at the White House.

Notice that Baldridge said, "It's like a church to me and should command the same respect." 

But many people today – both young and old – don’t feel like dressing with respect to worship in the house of God. Nevertheless, appropriateness or suitability in clothes has always been the keynote to what to wear for the occasion or activity.

Clothes fall into several categories:

1)      Active sport  (for participating in sports)

2)      Spectator sports/casual (for sports events, school, street, and travel)

3)      Informal/afternoon  (for church, business, and so forth)

4)      Formal/evening (for special occasions) 

Unquestionably,  sportswear, or play clothes, are not appropriate for church just as they are not appropriate for a funeral, wedding, or other special occasion. Only immature or indifferent or ignorant people do not care about appropriate dress for church.

Besides, people express their casual attitude toward Christianity in their dress and behavior in church.  Their dress and their behavior express a spirit of casualness and convenience. 

Today there is no reverence for the house of God. 

Today there is no respect for the house of God.

But this was not always so. . .

The congregation who build a church, build it and continue to regard is as the house of God.  It is, then, a place where the greatest deference, respect and reverence are due.

American Etiquette and Rules of Politeness, 1882.

Do nothing that might appear irreverent in a place of worship.  Whispering, giggling, and scribbling notes during the service suggest a coarse-grained nature.  The church represents the ideas and beliefs that men through the ages have held sacred.  Respect this association by subduing, if necessary, the tone of your conduct when you enter a church.

This Way, Please:  A Book of Manners.  Eleanor Boykin, 1940.

People do not greet each other in church, except at a wedding. At weddings people do speak to friends sitting near them, in a low tone.  It would be shocking to enter a church and hear a babel of voices. . . But you do not greet any one until you are out on the church steps, when you naturally speak to your friends as you encounter them.

Etiquette, Emily Post, 1945.

The keynote of good manners in church is reverence. Loud talking or laughing, waving to people, primping, rattling papers or squirming around restlessly or curiously – all these are out of keeping with the dignity of a church.

Women should dress suitably (never in sweaters or slacks!) and should wear hats and gloves.  Conspicuous make-up and strong perfume are out of place in church; and jangling charm bracelets are usually an annoyance to everyone around.

Elaborate greetings before or during services are in very bad taste.  If neighbors and friends are greeted at all, it should be with an almost imperceptible smile and nod of the head.  The time for friendly talk is after the services when people meet outside the church.

Well-bred people do not congregate in the aisles and doorways after a church service, blocking the way of people who want to leave.  They wait until they are outside before they engage in lengthy conversations.

The Standard Book of Etiquette, Lillian Eichler Watson, 1948.

We go to church to join with others in prayer, to offer thanks for our blessings, and to ask for help in knowing and doing the things that are right.  Your church is God’s house, so it’s natural to approach it in a spirit of reverence and a worshipful mood.

Manners to Grow On:  A How-To-Do Book for Boys and Girls, Tina Lee, 1955.

On the Sabbath, and especially for communion, a man should approach the altar in coat and tie.   He may come and go to the church in his shirt sleeves if that is the custom of his group and the weather is intolerable, but certainly he must maintain the utmost dignity in church.

Amy Vanderbilt’s Everyday Etiquette, 1968.

Although clothing restrictions for church have been greatly relaxed in recent years, the correct dress is still conservative.  Even today women do not wear slacks or shorts to conventional church services.

Reverence is the quality that guides one’s behavior at all religious services, and while it is expressed in various ways, in most faiths quiet, attentiveness, and dignity are the ingredients.

The New Emily Post’s Etiquette, Elizabeth L. Post, 1975.

So, for years and years and years, church etiquette required proper dress and proper behavior. 

But today. . .anything goes. Churches often advertise: “Come as you are.”  In other words, dress how you want: shorts, flip flops, ragged jeans, and so forth.  It’s a very self-serving ploy to get us to their church by catering to our self-centered feelings.  So, if we don’t feel like dressing appropriately for church, we don’t have to. We don’t have to respect God’s house.  We don’t have to reverence God’s house. We don’t have to maintain dignity.  

Many years ago when visiting a church in my hometown, a family came dressed to the morning worship service in shorts and flip flops.  Clearly, they were headed to the beach and just made a side trip to the church.  Obviously, they felt it would be a great inconvenience to change clothes after the service.  And they were not the only family dressed in sports clothes, or play clothes.  Play clothes are inappropriate in church.  They show a gross lack of dignity. They show a gross lack of respect for God’s house.  They show a gross lack of reverence for God’s house.

Whereas the Church used to uphold high culture, it has rapidly declined into low culture. Of course, this decline in the culture of the Church can be traced to the 1960s rebellion against the “establishment,” or authority. And some etiquette books after the 1970s do not even talk about appropriate dress or decorum in church. 

Not surprisingly, the Church has gone from Christ-centered to man-centered.  In the early 70s, we did not applaud after someone sang a solo in the church service. Then after some churches began to substitute entertainment in place of holy worship, applause became a standard response to any performance in a church sanctuary (auditorium).  In other words, church was no longer a sacred place of worship, but a place of pleasurable entertainment.

Clearly, the house of God is no longer a house of prayer; it is a house of entertainment:  "Christian" rock music with strobe lights, dramas, movies, book discussion groups, sports, dance, "Christian" comedians, cheap dinners, and other recreation for good times. 

Whatever happened to Bible study?  Today Christians will read every book except the Bible.  Instead, they want to read the latest “Christian” bestseller.  Look, friend, you will find the most ungodly books in a Christian bookstore.  But the purpose-driven, commercial-driven, entertainment-driven, and money-driven church of today has been exposed in previous articles (Crucifying Christianity, Rick Warren, A Church Divided, The Rebellious Church, Letter and 62 Theses, etc.).

Before we proceed any further, let’s define a few words:

1.       sanctuary – derived from the Latin word sanctus meaning sacred, holy.  A sacred or holy place.

2.       auditorium -   the space for the audience in a church, theater, or the like

3.       reverence – to regard or treat with reverence; venerate

4.       respect – show esteem or respect for

The New Century Dictionary, 1948; The American Heritage Dictionary, 1980

Notice that the definition for auditorium excludes sacredness or holiness.  When churches renamed the sanctuary an “auditorium,” this exclusion of sacredness or holiness hastened the secularization of the church and the decline of Christian culture in America. The church sanctuary (auditorium) is no longer a place of prayer and holy worship.  The church sanctuary is an auditorium for the false worship of unholy, carnal reveling.

Instead of the Church transforming the world, the world has transformed the Church.

My dear friend, what does God say about dress and decorum in His house?  Of course, to answer this question, we must search the Scriptures.

First, let’s study Jesus’ parable of the marriage feast as recorded in the Book of Matthew.  Read chapter 22  at http://bartleby.com/108/40/22.html  and pay close attention to verses 11 and 12.

And  when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?  And he was speechless.

Matthew 22:11, 12

Of course, the spiritual truth of this teaching is that we must appear before the King of kings in robes of righteousness. Without robes of righteousness, we cannot sit among the guests at the marriage feast of the Lamb with His bride the Church. If we want to “come and dine” with Jesus we must not be self-willed, but obey God’s will as expressed in His commands. And the only way we can wear a robe of righteousness is through repentance and obedience. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels (Revelation 3:5).