Tucson, Arizona Friday, 29 March 2002
Dressing down
Wardrobes for worship
Ties or T-shirts? Places of prayer don't care as much as they used to
By Elyssa Andrus
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
On Sundays, Elizabeth Fimbres, 58, does something shocking.
The part-time juvenile-court judge gets ready for church services at St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church by donning a cotton jumper or - gasp - a T-shirt and jeans.
For Fimbres, wearing casual clothes to worship makes sense: It's an easy way to go from the pew to the garden without stopping to change. While many will wear formal attire this Sunday, for some, like Fimbres, the Easter finery as spiffed up as they are going to get all year.
Increasingly the idea of "Sunday best" has shifted to "Sunday casual," with some Tucson churches and synagogues promoting come-as-you-are services to attract a wider population of worshippers. Blame it on the heat, the influence of casual Friday in the workplace or teen-agers' attachment to low-rise jeans, but many houses of worship don't require parishoners to dress up like they used to.
Roger Barrier pastor for Casas Adobes Baptist Church, said that in his 27 years as a pastor, he has seen church attire shift from jackets, suits and dresses to slacks, jeans and T-shirts.
With casual Friday in the workplace trickling over to Sunday, Gen-Xers and boomers alike often come to church in shorts and sandals. Teen-agers wear turned-around baseball caps.
There are some limits to the amount of relaxing, though.
"I think most people have enough sensitivity to know you wouldn't come in a bikini," said Barrier. "Would you wear a thong? No." Bathing suits aside, pretty much everything else goes, he said.
This reflects a shift in church theology, with people coming to understand God as a caring, intimate friend rather than only an awesome, holy judge, he said.
"I think that casual clothing promotes an intimacy with God that is very desirable," said Barrier. "If you are going to get judged, you've got your coat on. If you go to spend some intimate time with your friend, you are going to tend to be a lot more relaxed."
Newly established churches are typically less formal than ones that are steeped in hundreds of years of tradition and ritual, said Mark Chaves, a UA sociology professor who specializes in religion. This informality can include dress, he said.
At the 16-year-old, nondenominational Calvary Chapel of Tucson, every effort is made to keep the services fresh and modern, said assistant pastor Tony Johndrow. This includes singing to the tunes of an electric guitar and drums, as well as a more informally dressed clergy and congregation.
"You can have somebody there with a very expensive suit sitting next to biker people wearing leather and chains," said Johndrow.
The idea, he said, is for the 4,000-some worshippers to come to Jesus in whatever they feel most comfortable wearing.
"I'm the cowboy pastor. I'm usually wearing Wranglers and a shirt," he said. "Every now and then I'll put on a sport coat, but I usually have my cowboy boots on."
Barrier of Casas Adobes Baptist Church tries to dress a half-step more formal than the people he ministers to. For the morning services, he might wear a jacket and tie to be a bit more dressy than the older folks who come in slacks and blouses and sometimes coats and ties for services. But for evening meetings, which are geared toward youth and feature an alternative band, it's khakis and a button-down to their jeans and sneakers.
Years ago, this attire would be unthinkable, said Barrier. When he started his career: "You never came to church without a suit and tie. Preachers were supposed to wear white shirts."
One segment of Tucson that still clings to the idea of "Sunday best" is the black community, said Arthur Pierce, bishop of Greater Emmanuel Grace Apostolic Church. At his congregation, which is predominately black, women still wear fancy dresses, while men come in suits and ties.
It's a cultural value that has been handed down for generations, said Pierce, a way to show reverence and respect for the Lord. "This is the time that they put on the best that they have to look good for Christ," he said.
Emmanuel Grace parishioner Marva Woods, 36, puts on makeup, does her hair and dons "long and classy" dresses for sabbath services.
"Nylons every Sunday - that is a definite must - and heels," she said. "You wouldn't go in tank tops and shorts to a wedding or to a banquet, and those things are secondary to the Lord. Why would you treat the house of the Lord any different?"
When the church recently invited congregants to dress in denim for a "young people's day" service, Woods said she was "fighting it the whole time."
But for many Tucsonans, the extreme heat of the summer months often contributes to a desire to dress casually, be they at church, work or home.
"Here we are in Tucson, Arizona, where parking lots can give you some taste of hell in the summer," said Fred Allison, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Tucson. "There are probably far fewer men who wear ties to church in Tucson than, say, in other parts of the country."
Still, some faiths' teachings require a certain code of dress for religious observances. In Islam, women are expected to cover their heads and men and women should wear modest and loose-fitting clothing to the mosque, said Muhammad As'ad, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Tucson.
While people often wear "Sunday Best" to Friday prayers, some dress more casually when stopping by the mosque during the week to pray. Still he adds, "You aren't going to find tight-fitting pants and muscle shirts. That is totally inappropriate any time in the mosque."
In Orthodox Judaism, religious law says that people should dress modestly, said Israel Becker, rabbi at the Orthodox congregation Chofetz Chayim. Still, he says, his message is one of inclusion, not separation. "I would never tell someone, 'Your clothes are too casual,' " he said. "I just wouldn't do that."
With Gen-Xers in their flannel T-shirts and Generation Y in low-rise jeans and halter tops, many religious leaders are just happy to have youth show up, however they may be clothed.
Allowing people to come in casual clothing eliminates one more excuse people might have for skipping Sunday prayers for the park, said Susan Mullins, the associate pastor of St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church.
"I actually think it does take away a barrier," said Mullins. "It's nice to feel comfortable while you are worshipping. … The flip side to that is that worship is a way where we also want to be respectful."
Elizabeth Fimbres, takes it one step further. She says clothing is an irrelevant part of worship.
"God is interested in my soul, in my spirit, in the kind of person I am," she said. "Not in what I wear." |
