Q: Should church be full of rock bands and blue jeans or do traditional services have their place today?

A perennial dilemma that seems to crop up in the church now and then is that of the form of worship and the style of dress. We ask, “How should we worship God? Should we keep the music quiet and reserved as a means of being reverent or should we crank it up and give God our volume?� And we also wonder, “How should we dress in church? Jeans or jackets?� This reminds me of when I was a child in church. I recall squirming in the pews as I scratched and wiggled due to the wool-jacketed suit I was forced to wear on occasion that caused me to itch all over. I also remember the unbelievably uncomfortable button-up collared shirt that encircled my throat like a constricting python. I am sure most of us can relate to this. For who can forget the common urge to talk with your friends in the pew behind you during the service, that was immediately accompanied by a swift pull of the ear followed by a stern, �shush!�? Our parents were sure to remind us that it was all in the name of holy piety and tradition.

So why do we insist that certain traditions be maintained, even in the face of those practices that become counter productive over time? I am not questioning such traditions as the Eucharist, that sacred meal which draws us closer to His presence. No, I am referring to those issues that suggest styles and fashions as being more or less ‘Holier’ than others. I am questioning the doctrine that prefers hymns over contemporary songs, suits over T-shirts, pianos over guitars. Does any of this matter? Is it better to sing songs that are ‘time-tested’, rather than ‘heart-tested’?

With this in mind, I am aware that there are some forms of dress that would clearly be inappropriate. Obviously, wearing sexually explicit clothing or shirts bearing images that are irreligious and just plain vulgar would be unthinkable to wear to a service. Likewise, we would not be lifting up the name of our Lord with music that is lyrically incompatible with His message. No one would dream of singing a Marilyn Manson song, or performing a Slayer tune as a means of bringing glory to God. Whether there are specific types of music that are intrinsically ‘bad’, irrespective of lyrical content, is debatable. Pipe organs and electric guitars are neither good nor bad, in and of themselves. It is the attitude, intentions, and passion that will determine the nature of worship. We worship God with everything we do. We give Him glory for our clothes and our music, not just with our best music and most stunning pair of slacks.

There has always been a popular movement in the church to equate stability with tradition. It suggests that because something is old, it is better, and novelty should immediately be scrutinized by an historical method. However, I find that this ‘historicism’ is often a means of stymieing the way that the church touches the hearts of the world. I am not saying that novelty is better or worse, rather, it should be a non-issue. The fact that a certain mode of worship or clothing style in the church is ‘just the way it has been for years’, is not a warrant for its perpetuation: Styles are made by men, not God.

What touches the heart is what matters. So if this connection with people is being hampered by our traditions, I say we throw away those old wineskins and get some new ones. We’re leaking our liquor all over the place.

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