About Sundays...

I was pointed to this article by John MacArthur by another blogger.

I looked it up because for the past couple of weeks I've been considering what it means to be a Christian woman. Why? Who knows...probably the spirit's prompting as there are some things in my life that I think God is saying... "hey, that's not okay." So, anyways, that blog made me curious about what John MacArthur had to say, and there's lots there. He has a few others listed here that I want to look at later.

I pulled this quote because it made me think.

Now let me just talk about the word "adorn." The word "adorn" is kosmeo. We get the word cosmetic from it. It has to do with how a woman prepares herself. It means basically to arrange, to put in order, to make ready. And he is saying a woman is to make herself ready. I want to start with that very simple thought. When a woman comes to worship, there is a preparation involved. A woman should prepare herself for worship. She should make herself ready, that is assumed, that is a given. And when they prepare themselves, it should be in adorning apparel. And here is another form of the word kosmeo from the same root, this is an adjective, kosmios and it simply carries the same idea. She is to prepare herself with the proper preparation. She is to adorn herself with the proper adornment. The word kosmios, the adjective form, means orderly, becomingly, properly, well‑ordered, well‑arranged. So a woman, then, is to come to worship properly arranged. That is to say that there is some preparation for worship, obviously.

Now the word that is translated in the King James by the term "apparel" is really a bigger term than that. It means not only clothing but is used in many places to mean demeanor or attitude or action. It can be the deportment of a woman. The idea then is here is a total preparation. When a woman comes to worship, she is to be totally prepared. She is to be adorned from the inside out. And one demonstration of that is in the proper kind of apparel.

Now we said the word kosmeo is to arrange and kosmios speaks of the orderness...orderliness of that arrangement. The noun that comes from that same root is the word kosmos from which we get the word "world." It's translated very often world. It really means order or system. And the opposite of kosmos is chaos. And so we could conclude that a woman is not to come to worship in a chaotic fashion. That is in disorder, disarray, without a proper preparation, with an unbecoming demeanor, or an unbecoming wardrobe.

Now the idea we know here emphasis wise is clothing, but the underline idea is attitude which we'll get to in a moment which is godly fear and self‑control. But he is talking about clothing because he's very specific about hair, gold, pearls and expensive garments.

The point is this, initially a woman is to prepare herself for worship. And that preparation involves a heart attitude and it involves a proper adornment on the outside. She is to come not in a disarray in spirit and not in a disarray in clothing, not in a disarray in any way but in proper respect for the matter of worship. She is to be dressed in a manner that is well suited to worship, that is orderly, that fits the God intended spiritual purpose of the meeting of the church. Her clothing should reflect a worshiping heart focused on God and focused on God's glory.

So this article/sermon made me think.
I'm not a fashion model. Clothes for the most part to me are just something that I wear to keep myself covered. Yes, I consider to a certain extent what I like or what I feel comfortable in, but it's not like I spend hours deciding what to where and what goes with what and so forth. Not my style. I'd in many ways I'm sure be a perfect candidate for "what not to wear" with Clint and Stacey. :)

BUT that's beside the point. I do try on Sundays to at least wear something that is "Sunday best" dress. But this sermon points to more than the "outward" stuff. It points to the inward stuff.

My hubby and I have been talking off and on for the past...oh..couple of years. (yes, discussions take time sometimes) about how to keep Sunday as special. In the Old Testament, the sabbath started the night before and ended at supper-timish the next day. So we've been trying to see if following a similar pattern will help us as a family be better prepared for worship on Sunday. Are we fully committed at this point? No, but we do know that if we've had a quieter evening, and if we get to bed at a decent hour, that things tend to go better getting ready for church on Sunday morning. But in many ways that is still just dealing with the physical.

The query remains... what do I do to prepare myself for worship on Sunday? Can't really say I do a whole lot.

I give the dogs a walk. Do breakfast. Get the boy ready. Pray with my hubby before he heads off (he tends to get over there earlier than I do as he is the pastor). And then I bustle over when I've got everything together. I often have mail to put in slots, a Sunday school room to prepare and .. you get the picture. I don't have anything particular that I do to prepare my heart and mind to meet with and to worship my maker. This sermon causes me to consider that perhaps this is something that I need to modify. I am not sure at this point though just what I should do. Prayer? Yes, I can pray that God enable my heart and mind to be at peace so I can hear from him. Find a moment of solitude? well.. I"ve a 10 month old boy and Sundays are busy mornings... solitude I ain't gonna get.

So I can't say I know all the answers... but I do have questions and swirling thoughts in my brain.

I do know that throughout Scripture that people were called to prepare themselves to meet God. Moses had to remove his sandals because the ground before him was holy. Removing his sandals prepared him to talk with God. Priests needed to be cleansed before they could minister in the temple. And in 1 Timothy 2, Paul reminds the people that they are coming to church to worship God, not to show themselves off. They needed to be prepared to do that.

So just how do I "remove my sandals" so that I know I am going to stand on Holy Ground? My desire to is be able to worship God knowing that I am doing so in a way that honours him. I just don't think right now that my "sunday routine" is the best way to achieve that end. Hmm...more thought and prayer needed I think.