Hypocrisy, Petty Legalism, and a Christianity Devoid of Christ.

     Today I was in church, a place I dearly love and full of people that I love to be with. To me, church is a place to refuel for the week ahead, to commune with other Christians and worship together.

Quick side note: Something you should know about me- I wear a plain brown baseball cap everywhere I go. It's as much a part of me as my belt. I take it off only for bed, while praying, and while leading worship as part of the worship team at church. And sometimes at meals.

    So today, like any other Sunday, I got up on stage to play with the worship team. And just like every other Sunday I left my hat sitting in my pew. After the last song, I went back to my pew, set my hat on my head, and sat back to listen to what the pastor had to share. He gave a good sermon on mothers and family. It is mother's day today.
     Half way through the sermon, I got a text from the youth pastor asking me if I could help pass out flowers to all the moms after the sermon. I readily agreed. So after the sermon, me and my brother and sister stepped up to the front to pass out the flowers to all the mothers. I had forgotten something though- I was still wearing my hat.
     One of the women of the church stepped up to me and ordered me to take it off, calling me disrespectful for wearing a hat in church.
     To be honest, I was rather dumbfounded, and was still standing there speechless while she continued to command me to remove my hat. My brother came to my rescue while I was still struggling for words, saying, "God isn't bothered by it." She turned around and walked off, angry I assume at both of us.
   
     Another quick side note about me: Unless you can give me a good reason, I won't follow a direct order.  In fact, if you try to command or order me to do something, I will emphatically, blatantly, and purposefully refuse. You have to convince me that what you want done is the right thing to do. Or, you have to have my trust and respect. If you have proven to me that I can trust what you say, I will probably to what you want without asking questions, because I trust you. This woman had neither a good explanation, nor had she earned that level of respect from me.

So I left my hat on.

Service over, I went on to mingle with my fellow Christians, seeking meaningful conversation. I was approached by an older man, someone dear to my heart. A man I care deeply for and for whom I have a high level of respect. He asked me very kindly to not wear my hat in church, stating that that's not the way he was raised. I again replied that God does not feel slighted by my wearing a hat.

Then a few minutes later the husband of the first woman passed me and angrily hollered at me, "A hat in church, dude! REALLY!" I again answered with, "God is not slighted by it, so why should you be?"

But at this point, it wasn't worth hanging around. I was angry and hurt that all they could see was a world through a Pharisaical lens. I left.

What have we become? Where is the love of Christ in all this? God doesn't care two bits about whether I wear a hat or not. For God looks at the heart. Only man looks at the outward appearance. In response to the older man, I have a question: Because you were raised in a certain way with a certain set of rules of etiquette, you are now asking me, who was not raised with the same rules of etiquette to conform to your preconceived, outdated notions of how people should behave? Simply because you were raised to behave a certain way does not give you the right to demand that others conform to your way of thinking.

And to the lady and her husband: What is it that shows disrespect about my hat? Should I take of my shirt too? Where does your idea of respect and disrespect come from? I know Corinthians 11:4-

     "Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head."

That's why I don't wear my hat when I'm praying. I honestly don't understand this verse at all. But God is one of those who has earned my respect to such a high degree that if He tells me something, I can trust it without explanation. Because I know I can trust that He has an explanation, regardless of whether I can understand it or not. I don't need Him to convince me. He has proven that He can be trusted. So I uncover my head in prayer. But I do not understand if this verse is even talking about our actual physical head, or our spiritual head, or what. I simply don't get it. And from looking at all the different variety of ideas about head coverings that have arisen from this section of the Bible, I'm firmly convinced that no one else understands it fully either.

     There seems to be this idea that the church is a holy place. But the church is no more holy the bar downtown. There are no more holy places. For it is the people of God that are holy now. We are the church. Not the building. The building is a building. Nothing more.

This petty legalism is a Christianity with no Christ in it. Christ never addressed the etiquette of those he communed with. He never called someone disrespectful for covering or uncovering their head. It was not the mission of Christ to address such issues. And it should not be ours. The church is a church of Pharisaical Christians. All pretty and dolled up on the outside, but when the mouth is opened all we see is rot and decay. This is not a community I want to be a part of. I'm tired of the do's and don't's of the church. I want nothing to do with it. I want nothing more than Jesus Christ.

I am madly in love with Jesus Christ- And thoroughly disgusted with Christians.