I wore blue jeans to church

Yesterday I wore jeans to church.  Levis, to be precise.  I know a lot of people wear jeans to church.  There were a lot of people AT church in jeans yesterday.  My husband and sons wear jeans most Sundays.  So, I wore jeans and who cares, right?

Well, I did half-expect the building to get hit by lightning when I walked in, so that could be a cause for concern.

I don't think I have EVER worn jeans to church.  I don't mind that other people do.  Maybe it is just an old-fashioned tradition.  But I have always, since I was a child, "dressed up" for church.  I have certainly worn slacks, but they were dress slacks.  Growing up, I had "school clothes", "play clothes" and "dress clothes".  As an adult, I worked in offices that ranged from "office dressy" (pencil skirts, pumps, usually a jacket) to "office casual" (slacks, Dockers, casual skirts with low-heel or flat shoes).  But never jeans.  I did once work in an office where we could wear jeans on Friday, but someone got crazy and wore tennis shoes and that was the end of that.

Anyway, I have always LIKED to get dressed up on Sunday.  Especially now - I stay at home most days with the kiddos, and that means sweats.  The days I go into town it is jeans and a t-shirt.  When we go to any sort of event - it is jeans and whatever.  Dress 'em up with a fancier shirt and shoes, but still jeans. 

So this Sunday the parking lot at church still had a lot of ice on it, and I start thinking how ridiculous it is to try to find the right "dress shoes" to wear to walk across ice.  I need to wear casual, comfortable flats (with some traction).  Those usually don't look too hot with a dress.  So I thought.....I guess I could wear jeans.  I mentioned this to my husband.  He said, "I don't see why not, lots of people do, why wouldn't you?"  (It is funny sometimes how I can approach him with huge, life-changing issues and he seems oblivious to all that.)

Well, then, why wouldn't I?  Hmmmm, I don't know.  I like to think I always get dressed up as a sign of respect for church - that coming together to worship is worth getting dressed up for.  But I meet with other Christians all the time, and I don't dress up then.  We have fellowship every Wednesday night, with prayer, singing and Bible study, and I don't dress up for that, either. 

Could it be vanity?  A little pride slipping out?  That is a sin that God convicts me of, over and over. 

I watched a clip of Francis Chan a few weeks back, and he said he wore jeans on Sunday because he wore them every other day and he wanted to be the same person Sunday as the rest of the week.  He didn't want to be a different person when he showed up for church.  I know a lot of people who put on a "Sunday face" at church - we can all be nice and act like a Christian for 2 hours a week, right?  Okay, digressing there...but think about it - if I am to carry who I am out of that church building and into the world, if my life is not to have "compartments" (I have used a lot of " " in this post!) where I seperate the secular from the holy, then why would my closet have these same compartments?

Just some meandering thoughts. 

I will probably still wear skirts most of the time - mainly because I have a closet full of skirts and no where else to wear them!  I think the chickens would wonder what I was up to if I showed up all decked out to fill their feeders, you know.  And I just like them, especially when it gets warm outside.

But I don't HAVE to wear them.  I can wear a skirt, and a pair of heels, because I enjoy it, and because I want to, not because I feel some legalistic compulsion to OR ELSE.  I don't even feel the need to point out that they were new jeans, not particularily tight or immodest, or even bring up the safety issue of the ice on the parking lot.  Okay, so I did just bring them up, but I didn't HAVE to.  I am getting there.

Freedom.