I always thought it was a pointless thing to do, but I still understand it. "You're going to meet with God, shouldn't you look your best for Him?" The answer to that is that God doesn't care about what clothes you're wearing. Indeed, that would be a pretty shallow standard for God to be working under...
The scriptures say, "The Lord does not look on the outward appearance, but on the heart."
The whole point of people getting really dressed up for mass is so they look as respectable as possible. Of course God isn't looking for who is in the best suit or who is wearing the biggest pearl neglace. Many just aim higher so that they don't become too laid back and allow their child to come to mass in a miny skirt.
Tonight, for example, I'll wear jeans, a polo and maybe a hoddie. It's decent looking and that's what matters. My church doesn't expect me to pull out a shirt and tie every weekend but they also don't want me walking in with a white beater on and a big chain around my neck.
That's why I said in an earlier post that the only scriptural rules about dress were modesty and decency. Of course, who determines what is modest? My mother in law (this was in the 1970's) was told to put a sweater on to cover her arms at a Nazarene Church in August. It wasn't air conditioned, either. But they considered wearing a top with short sleeves to be immodest. The pastor I grew up under used to tell women who wore slacks to church that they were going to hell. My parents never agreed with that extreme thinking, but Mom still attends that church today. It has moderated since that pastor died. Even so, my 81 year old mother STILL lectures me about how we should dress up for church. She will say, "If you were meeting the President or the Queen, you would dress up. But you're going to meet God and you dress down?"
She misses the entire concept of the heart versus the outward appearance.
But I am not completely dismissive of what you're saying Phil.
I sometimes help the priest serve communion as a chalice bearer. And some of the ladies are fairly spilling out of their blouses or tops. One teenage girl used to come up for communion with a tight t-shirt that read, "I know what boys want". IMO, they cross the line. I think it's up to adults to decide for themselves and parents to decide for children. Especially when someone else's manner of dress affects another person's ability to worship. (Or causes me to spill the consecrated wine! LOL)
But because people can be so easily wounded spiritually, I think it behooves everyone to keep in mind the verse about how the Lord looks on the heart and not the outward appearance.
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