I went for a temple recommend interview wearing my typical outfit: jeans and a sweatshirt. Not just any sweatshirt, my beloved Yellowstone sweatshirt. Best sweatshirt of all time. And could you believe that the stake presidency member yelled at me for not dressing appropriately?!
Okay, fine, he gently reminded me that perhaps I should think a little harder about what I would wear if I were going to go meet with my Heavenly Father. He was super, super nice about it.
But here's my angle. You guys already know that I hate clothes. Clothes serve a function: they keep us warm or comfortable and generally make it so we don't have to walk around showing our stuff to everyone. But mostly, clothes are a reflection of culture. What is appropriate is different to each culture. This is part of what I hate so much about clothes: I hate the "this is appropriate and this is not" stuff. WHY can't my husband wear a blue shirt to church? WHY can't I wear jeans to church? WHY am I a slacker if I wear pajamas all day? WHY is mostly-naked wrong (think native clothing)? There's no real reason for these things.
What I wear influences how people see me. I know that. It's a game we all play, and it's a game I do my best to mock at every turn. Church seems to me an appropriate place to point out The Game: We humans are fooled by clothes, but God is not. God sees right through it all - shouldn't we try to do the same? See people for who they are, and not be influenced by what they're wearing? That's the ideal, isn't it?
Do I wish to be disrespectful? No. Especially not to The Most Powerful Being in the Universe. But when it comes down to it, I think that God sees past all the outer stuff, straight to the inner Me. He sees me naked.
After the interview I told the stake presidency member, "By the way, I would totally wear this to church." I have worn jeans. Many times. And I just recently upgraded from sweatshirts, though I occasionally go back to them for church attire. He said, "Yes, but would you wear it to meet your Heavenly Father?"
I just barely stopped myself from saying, "I would go naked." Instead I said, "Yes, I would. I think He cares a lot less about it than we do."
Second part, though: I wear garments. They're a symbol of the commitments I've made to Him, to myself, to my husband and to the world. Garments are the one item of clothing that I wear that I take seriously. They have meaning, they have purpose. They are sacred to me. They aren't part of The Game.
So I quickly added, "But you better believe I'd be wearing my garments!"
Which, honestly, is very much like being naked (mine are pretty much see-through). And I probably wouldn't need my garments, because God knows what's written on my heart, without the aid of garments. I would wear them more for my benefit than for His - I take my covenants seriously, and I need to know that for MY sake.
What do you guys think? What would you wear if you were going to meet with God?
