Why I'm Showing Up Late for Church

(This is a continuation of a thinking process started with the post: "Why I'm Wearing Pajamas to Church.") There's a movement towards the "casual" in our day. We're casual in our speech. We're casual in our showing up for events and appointments. We're casual in our clothing, too. It's that second area of casual I want to talk about.

Fashionably late. It's the term/phrase (euphemism?) used for and by some who tend towards not being on time. Do you know anybody whose "MO" that is (method of operation)? "Well, you see I don't like to be there first," or, "I don't want to arrive ahead of my friends. It makes me feel awkward," or, "They always begin late anyway. What's the difference?," or, "I'm late for everything. It's just part of my nature." I remember a fellow applying for a pretty significant ministry position who was delayed in his arrival to the interview. He didn't think it a courtesy to call ahead and then wondered why they wouldn't even talk to him when he did get there. I have to wonder along with him (tongue in cheek). What was the big deal? Didn't the world revolve around him?

Which brings me to what I really wanted to say. I've been thinking about showing up late for church (fashionably, of course). Do you think that's crazy? Everybody else is. (Does that irk you that someone would actually notice? I've done my job then.) Me showing up late for church will especially help me emphasize (among other things) how insignificant, unimportant and useless what goes on during the time before I arrive actually is. (After all, God never chooses to show up in the initial five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes of a church service, does He?)

My point here isn't that I'm never late or haven't been late or that I don't understand real life circumstances and how all of us are delayed from time to time (even for church). But if it was the 49ers or Giants game (or whatever the ladies like event), watch out. For us guys, even if we're on our deathbed, we not only won't show up late, we'll be there for the pregame bratwurst and burgers. Can we offer anything less to the King of kings?

Why I'm Wearing Pajamas to Church

There's a movement towards the "casual" in our day. We're casual in our speech. We're casual in our showing up for events and appointments ("casual" used for "late" here). We're casual in our clothing, too. It's this last area of casual I want to talk about. I can remember "casual dress" days were Fridays at work (back in the 90s). I looked forward all the more to the end of the week because I could wear jeans, a pullover shirt, no belt. I could dress comfortably. Now casual dress day is every day in the workplace. Right? And I've also noticed it's every Sunday in the church. Which brings me to what I really wanted to say. I've been thinking about wearing pajamas to church. Do you think that's crazy? Everybody else is wearing whatever they want to wear ~ from shorts and baseball caps, to flip-flops and sunglasses ~ you name it. So why not PJ's? And how do you think people might react to me if I came to service looking like I just got out of bed? Or what if it was a woman showing up in her night gown? Would she turn heads? Ya think? My point here isn't that I'm against dressing comfortably for church. (I'm all for it, quite frankly, just like I was on Fridays long ago.) But when is comfortable too comfortable? I think it's an important question to ask. Is there a point where "casual" goes too far?