How should I dress to my cousin's confirmation?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

(Yes, somewhat attention whoring, sorry.)

But anyway, my cousin is being confirmed tomorrow and my mom is her sponsor. I did agree to go, even though this means driving out to the suburbs for a 10:30AM service. Recently though we did in an argument about how I should dress with me insisting that I'm going to wear a band shirt and jeans like I always do to church, she objected a bit and after I pointed out that I don't have any shirts without any writing or formal shirts (besides one gathering dust in my closet) and the best I could do was the Apple promotional shirt I had that has nothing but the Apple logo on the front and "Lion" on the sleeve. She asked me to wear that then and jeans without holes or tears. I asked her if a Christian band shirt would be OK but she said that most people there wouldn't know who they were and any band shirt I had could be "misinterpreted" by any olds present or the rest of my family.

My thoughts:

1-I wear this type of stuff to my church, so I don't see why I can't wear it to any one.
2-I didn't really wear about what other people wore when I got confirmed, as it didn't mean much to me anyway (I didn't even really believe in God at the time.)
3-If this is indeed a more liberal ELCA church like she claims and not one of the conservative ones then no one should care what I dress. Why would people dress up to a liberal church?

But she says that my cousin is wearing a special very formal dress and most of my family will be dressed up and I shouldn't try to attract attention from her, which I'm not trying to. But in the end she said she's just happy that I'd be there. So I'm still wondering if I should just wear the Apple shirt and my nicest jeans to make her happy or what I would normally wear, aka the first clothes I grab out of my laundry basket.

She also asked me not to do the hand raising thing, but I've decided that'd be kind of awkward anyway if no one else is.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Dressing up seems like a Southern Baptist thing.

At my family's church at home (which is best described as "sort of liberal, but only by North Dakota standards and would be quite conservative compared to ELCA churches in Minneapolis"), I would wear jeans and a T-shirt, my mom just insisted on once again no holes in the jeans and no writing on the shirt, her concern still being that it was easier just to wear a plain shirt than one with writing on it that might be misinterpreted. At least until I was in high school when I wore whatever I wanted whenever I went which was far less frequently.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Trying to convince you to dress up on any sort of moral basis is out of the question. So I'll try it a different way. If you're going to a mosque or some worshipping place of another religion, what do you do? By all standard conventional wisdom, you do as the proverbial Romans do. Respect the customs & traditions of the place you are entering even if you don't agree with it. Otherwise, don't go.

I would NEVER attend any place of worship that denied Jesus Christ.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

hardcore kids != hobos

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I went in the Apple shirt and my cleanest pair of jeans. There were other people there in jeans and T-shirts, though some guys in ties in the row in front of me. I was reminded me of how boring I find those traditional Lutheran services and how much I hate those call and response things. Bleh.

My cousin by the way once we got back to her house changed out of her dress into jeans and her school's sweatshirt giving an idea of how much she cared about dressing formally. I think she was just happy I came so I could give her a card with $20 inside.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yeah I probably wouldn't have even gone like 6 months ago but trying to be nicer to my family and all is part of what I'm trying as new good Christian BRTD.

Here was something that surprised me a little, the closing song was "Mighty to Save". It was on piano and with no hand raising though, but knowing that Hillsong songs have made it to even traditional-style services now probably isn't going to make Polnut happy.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I have a feeling Lief would dress up if he was going to Dudefest.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Is your cousin hot?

She's 14, so even if she wasn't my cousin that question is "eww".

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

As I noted, she had a nice dress her parents got her at the service--and was in a school sweatshirt and jeans as soon as I saw her at her house.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Excerpt from the phone convo with my mom I just had:

Me: You know, she did change into her school shirt and jeans as soon as we got home...
Mom: Well yes, she's not a dress up person.
Me: Just like me, huh?
Mom: Well yeah I suppose.
Me: Now did I care growing up if people dressed up to special occasions about me?
Mom: No, you really didn't.

I think I got my point across. I'm not surprised either, my cousin is a smart girl.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So Lief, would you dress up to go to Dudefest?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Do you still have the Apple shirt?

Yes actually although it just sits in the bottom of my hamper and I'll never wear it lol.

Trying to convince you to dress up on any sort of moral basis is out of the question. So I'll try it a different way. If you're going to a mosque or some worshipping place of another religion, what do you do? By all standard conventional wisdom, you do as the proverbial Romans do. Respect the customs & traditions of the place you are entering even if you don't agree with it. Otherwise, don't go.

I would NEVER attend any place of worship that denied Jesus Christ.

Why? Do you think God would be angry?

Because it's not what I believe.