That makes the church pretty unusual, doesn't it?  How often do adults and children wear the same clothing; how often does the Mayor and the construction worker dress alike?  And yet, in the church, we all dress the same, absolutely no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, all clothed in the same filthy rags of sinfulness.  And yet, we are all also justified freely by grace through the redemption of Jesus Christ, as He comes to us and clothes us with Himself and His righteousness.

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So, is church just a bunch of kids playing dress up?  Pretending to be someone we're not?  Absolutely not and the season of Lent reminds us of that.  We return after a week of rolling around in our sin--we don't try to hide that fact, we confess it: "I am a poor miserable sinner."  And our father is here to meet us, to wash us clean of our sins, and clothe us with Christ.

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Sometimes, though, we don't want our fellow Christians to know we're sinners, or how bad we really are.  So we try to dress ourselves up like Adam and Eve tried to dress themselves up in fig leaves.  But that doesn't work out very well.  We're exposed soon enough (not that that's a surprise to anyone).  Everyone in church is a poor, miserable sinner.

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So, better than trying to clothe ourselves is to be clothed by God with Christ in the Divine Service, a clothing that never goes out of style.  We don't have to change constantly to match the ever-changing styles and tastes of the world--being clothed with Christ is all we need.

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So, next time you come to church and see people wearing all kinds of different clothing--some fancy, some not, some new, some old, some you like and some you don't--take another look.  See not how we're all different, but the same--all confessing our sins, all being re-clothed in Christ's righteousness through the forgiveness of sins--and see a church full of Christ, each and every one clothed, each and every one made new, each and every one a brother and sister in Christ. 

 

​​​See you in church, my friends. God's richest blessings!  

Pastor M. <t><

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