Not to sound all Nasostolgic here, but dressing up for church was a great way of instilling pride and reverent behavior in people. It's a shame it has gone away.
What the hell? Churches with people dressed up tend to have them just standing around and not doing anything and not being reverent at all. As opposed to all the people I saw today in torn jeans waving their arms in the air, often swaying with their eyes closed, and sometimes jumping around. They seemed a lot more excited and worshipful than any formal dressed up church.
Being excited and emotional isn't at all reverent. It's actually the opposite of it and something our culture needs a little bit less of these days. If you are going to behave that way in church, then you need another activity in your life that is meditative to replace it. The problem is there's a good deal of people who don't replace it.
The ideal Christian church, in my opinion, would be centered around the old Catholicism in Latin . There could be Bible study during the week so you know what it all means, but either an understandable dry mass or an entertainment show both take away from the spirituality of it all. Church should not being entertaining. It should be quiet, boring, and purposeless because that's where you find what you need; when all your worldly things are pushed aside for some good old nothingness. It's like taking a shower. A great place to think as nothing is happening.
If that is not what you look for in church, then perhaps it's not a church you are looking for.
