The Fashionable Christian

http://pastorfashion.com/about/

Look at this site.

Just look at it. Feel free to browse for a while. Read up.

Now that you've done that, let's think about fashion for a bit. What have you always thought of when it comes to fashion? What does fashion inspire? What does fashion focus on?

Physical appearance.

Now, think about yourself. Do you consider yourself fashionable? Are you always fashionable? Does being fashionable raise your sense of worth? Does fashion make you a better person? Once again, what does fashion focus on?

Physical appearance.

Now, don't think I'm being too harsh yet. I'm just asking questions. I just want to know a few things about fashion, you know? There are a few good quotes about fashion, such as one by Vivienne Westwood, who said, "Fashion is very important. It is life-enhancing and, like everything that gives pleasure, it is worth doing well." Adriana Lima was also quoted to say, "Fashion is not just beauty, it's about good attitude."

While this is all very well-meaning, I would also like to point out that I had to scroll through five pages of quotes about fashion to find ones that said good things about it. Fashion seems to be a societal monster that more people resent than glorify.

So why is it being glorified in the church? All of the sudden, the only way to appeal to anyone is by dressing well, and pumping up our speeches, and talking about things no one wants to talk about. What happened to preaching the truth in its rawest form?

Christianity seems to have turned into something we're selling, a consumer product. For some reason, Christianity seems to be about looking better than everyone else, and making lots of friends, and being socially in tact, and judging everyone for everything, and I'm here to tell you that THAT is not my Christianity.

The website above is quoted to say, "Why can’t the men and women of God set the standard for the rest of the world in fashion as well as faith?" It is also quoted to say (just in case people like me noticed), "We’re not trying to be like the world…we just want to be fashionable while we try to change it!"

I will admit, my first and foremost thought was that this website is encouraging Christians to conform to the pattern of the world. Fashion is, after all, about appearing a certain way, projecting a certain image. At what point, though, are people more curious about the image than about what we're supposed to be sharing with them?

My thoughts began to change, though. I wasn't angry--all I could think of is whether the people Jesus associated with were really the most fashionable. The disciples. Do you think they wore new robes when they started following Christ? Do you think they all went out and bought new sandals so people would like them more and listen to them more? Think of the people Jesus encountered: prostitutes, beggars, lepers. Do you think they were concerned with how Jesus was dressed?

And think of this--when Christ was crucified, the only clothing he wore was a crown of thorns. Now, unless that's starting to come into style, I think we ought to be rethinking our priorities. 

Christianity has always been for the people who don't fit in, the people whose identities are lost in something dark. My confidence comes from the fact that I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, not because I'm wearing jeans that I bought at the mall, or brand-name boots. How do I explain how sick it makes me feel that we've been reduced to this...pretty building full of pretty people with nothing to teach me except that I need to look good and I need to raise my hand and come to the front and dedicate my life to Christ.

That's not my Christianity. That's not what my Christ taught. 

The people I think about when I think of Christianity are the people who don't fit in. Christianity appeals most to those who need something solid to stand on to prevent them from falling into the very bottom of the pit. 

It's the teenage boy who people keep calling a goth who lives in a broken home and is shunned by his peers because of the rumours that he has an anger problem. Do you think he's going to be reached with the message that he is loved and he is enough and that God doesn't care what he looks like or who his peers thinks he is because God made him after His own image and gave Himself on the cross so He could have the chance to be with His child by someone wearing a perfect smile and a nicely starched shirt and slim, but not too skinny jeans? Really? 

It's the middle aged divorced woman with two kids who wears frumpy clothes and limp hair and goes to church with a friend for the first time and is encountered by judgmental looks for her attire, because they've all been reading up on their fashion tips this week, and clearly, Miss Middle-Aged Divorcee does not fit the bill. Do you think she's going to be reached and told that she is loved and she is enough and that God doesn't care what she looks like or how people look at her because God made her after His own image and gave Himself on the cross so He could have the chance to be with His child by one of these women with a slim figure and jewelry matching her nails and a flattering dress with matching heels?

It's the broken and the down-trod, people whose burdens are heavy and who are so, so weary. We are not preaching the gospel of the Fashionable Christ. We are preaching the gospel of God in a man who went through the worst so that we didn't have to fit in. We are preaching a gospel of otherwise unattainable joy, of peace beyond our understanding. We are preaching something that has nothing to do with fashion.

I've never been all too impressed with Christians who dress well. I've always found them to be somewhat...well, the most accurate word is "desperate," but people don't like that word, so I'll say...lacking. I have always found myself instinctively thinking that outer beauty is compensating for a certain lack of inner beauty. And that, my friends, does not impress me at all. So what are we so desperate for, Christians, when we have what no one else offers? 

We are preaching something that no one else can offer. We're preaching the right not to fit in, because there is something so much greater than what we look like. Our goal isn't to win people over to Christianity. It's not about how many people you save. It's about bringing the message that we're created for an entirely different world, that we're no longer bound to the constructs of society and sin, that we've been freed because of this man named Jesus Christ, and it doesn't matter what we wear, because we're reborn into a new spirit that radiates into our physical appearance as something no accessory can match.