The following post is a newsletter written by my dear friend of Nevrdun News.

Do you remember when we dressed in our finest clothes to wear to Church out of respect for the Lord? It doesn’t need to be a distant memory of the past. We can give our best to the Master today.

“We’re losing it,” I thought.  “We’re losing it.“

We were in a rural area yesterday, way out.  As we passed a tiny country church, an elderly gentleman with a cane in one hand and a Bible in his other was slowly picking his way across the uneven ground to his car.  I wish I had been brave enough to stop and ask if we could take his picture.

Try to envision a tiny country church, beautifully maintained, surrounded by fields lush with fresh spring grass sprinkled with Texas wildflowers.  Cattle are contentedly grazing as the old man leaves the building, slowly making his way to his car.  A warm breeze is blowing, occasionally gently lifting the end of his tie, for you see, he is wearing a suit and tie. 

His generation and those before him wore their best clothes to church on Sunday mornings.  Some reading this will be too young to remember those days.  Wearing your best clothes was a way to outwardly show honor for the occasion.  It was an outward sign of respect for God.

Oh, I know what some of you might be thinking.  “God doesn’t care about the outside, what matters is the inside.”  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m right there with you.  After all, we go to a Cowboy Church.  Jeans are the standard fare.  In fact, that’s pretty much all I ever wear.  A pair of black slacks for the occasional times I need to “look professional” and jeans for everything else.

But sometimes I wonder, in all our casualness are we losing something?  We’ve taken the steeples off our buildings and the hymnbooks out of our pews (pew?  what’s that?).  Our “sacred” music has been simplified to the point where people no longer know how to read music and organs are becoming a relic of the past.  Our once reverent sanctuaries have evolved into entertainment inspired modern auditoriums sprinkled with speakers and big screens and Broadway lighting.  And why carry a Bible when the Bible is on your smart phone?

I don’t know.  I’m just thinking out loud I guess.  I can’t put my finger on it, but it just seems like we are losing something.

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“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD”

Psalm 122:1