Appearances

I grew up having my hair combed for me and later combing it myself the way I got used to seeing it. Then later on as I discovered trends I tried to not look like the guy who was still being combed by their parents or the guy who got stuck in the 70’s.

My mantra growing up was whatever feels comfortable was what I would wear. Comfort more than appearance was foremost. And since I didn’t particularly give much effort in building any muscles in my mid-section, I thought it was very convenient to wear loose fitting clothes so as not to emphasize my equally loose physique.

Being in the ministry I thought people didn’t mind how I looked. I thought that I could wear anything and still get away with it. Particularly working with students, I got away most of the time not having to think if what I was wearing was smart enough.

But perception does matter. As I work with people older than myself and as I work with people who may not be in the business of looking good but looking good is good for business, I realized that looks are important.

One of the things I remember about speaking that Pastor Eyriche Cortez mentioned to me was that they were taught to dress one level better than the congregation. For practical purposes it does make sense. When people speak in front, people listen to them and in a way to listen to someone is to grant them the authority to be listened to and it is harder to listen to someone who by some accounts appear to be someone not worth listening to simply because they have not given enough effort to appear worth listening to. If we dress the same, we’re peers. If you dress above me, you are my superior. It gives the appearance of authority.

Whether or not it sounds spiritual the important issue i think is this: the gospel at its core is offensive (Gal 5:11) to many. We don’t need to help people feel anymore alienated to the gospel by giving them another reason to stay away from it.

On the positive side is this: the message that we are preaching is at it's core not judgment but love, grace and hope. We have a reason to look good because our message is good as well.When we speak we speak representing God. The message in some way  is the messenger as well.