Q: What do my church and Nirvana have in common?
A: The sentiment that you should "Come as you are" (as a friend/as a known enemy...well, maybe not that last bit)
My church even has part of this phrase written under one of it's signs; it reads "Come as you are. Come to God". I go to church every Sunday, but that doesn't automatically make me a Christian any more than standing in a garage means that you're a car. But I'm not going to go into my personal theology, but I wanted to state that I agree with what that sign says: I attend church not because I think I'm a swell person but I accept that I'm hopelessly flawed and I come as I am to try to better myself. It's in the same way that a hospital is a place for the sick to get healing. Anyway, every week I'm faced with the challenge of figuring out what to wear to church.
I went to Italy in 2005 and visited many duomos and even went to the Sistine Chapel. In Italy (okay, and the Vatican, too, I guess) they have strict rules about what one (specifically women) are allowed/not allowed to wear inside the church. Most of the time it required that the shoulders and knees were covered. I went over the summer so most of the trip I couldn't wear shorts (not that I wear shorts often). After that trip I started to base my church-going wardrobe guidelines in a similarly conservative way. I still dress like who I am, but a more polished version. Often I feel like I look like a kindergarten teacher, with my ironed skirt and cardigan and ballet flats. In middle and high school this issue of finding appropriate church attair was a weekly groanfest because I couldn't wear just my everyday school clothes and I was absolutely opposed to wearing anything I'd wear for a school concert or from attending a bat mitzvah. I don't know where I was going with this...
Anyway, yeah, dressing for church isn't as hard. There isn't a dress code, perse. I see women wear nice jeans to church and really nice heels, and mini-skirts, and shirts with weird things written on them that might seem anti-Christian. But I've finally found a way to come as I are and still feel like I'm appropriately dressed.
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