DRESS IN CHURCH

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 279, 28 December 1929, Page 6

DRESS IN CHURCH

SERYICES FOR SPOETSMJSN. ANGLICAN JOURNAL'S COA1A1ENT "PATRONAGE" OR AVORSHIP. AYbether it is right or wrong to ap« pear in church in tennis flamiels nf plus fours is a subject discussed in thg January number of Ihe Church GazettsV lor tlie dioccse of Auckland in an eclitorial article on "Holidnys and AYorship." "There is reallv no - question to answcr in our opinion," states the artic-le. "It is purely a matter ot'.th-a heart. ]f my cliief Sunday occupatin-i is going to be amusement and I go to church first just to salve my con- ; science, then I naturaly regard 'it as i^C nnisance to have to change my clothes^ But if 111 y attendance at church is a, real recognition of the claims of God upon me, if I go to church bec-ause X want to honour Him ancl be a witness to the faith that is in me, and if I am therefore content to let amusementi take a properly-subordinate place, tha uierc question of dress will not arise at all. "The appeal to 'sporting' people to come to a 'speeial' service dressed as they please seems to us to lower the ideal of puhlic worship, and to turn the _servic-e into a sort of entertahiment; provided for their speeial benefit; it is an admission that their Sunday amusements are necessary for them, and that God and His claims are secondary, and they are asked to be good enough to patronise God for a few minntes before tlicv begin their real Sunday pursuits. The parson becomes th© entertainer and the congi'egation the audience. Of course, in reality tha congregation should be the performers, and the audience — God Himself. The whole matter turns on whetber people come to cliurcli to worship God, or whether they come in a patronising spirit to listen to a sermon, the only question is oue of motive. and the elotbes we wear mav he taken, as a general rule, as some sorfc of indicntion whether our attendance at church is ah act of patronage or an act of worship."