The other day, I was stopped at a conference where a colleague in ministry said, “I still have your suit jacket in my office from 6 months ago, don’t you need it?”

Shaking my head joyfully I said, “nah.”

A week earlier I had loaned-a long term one hopefully-my robe to another a minister in town.

And then as I sat at another conference of 1200 pastors this week, a stranger walked up and asked mockingly, “finally took off that F3 hat?”  To which my neighbor respond, “Oh, its okay, he is a church planter.”  Then I looked around the room and realized I was the only one in jeans and a t-shirt among a sea of blue blazers.  

I began to wonder, why do we this to ourselves: uncomfortably dress ourselves up by putting on our “Sunday Best?”  

Frankly, I am tired of all this: I do not want to be at my best any more.  When I dress up my exterior to ‘pretend’ I am shining a light on my ability to look good, instead of shining a light on Christ’s ability to restore a mess.

Sunday should not be when we are at our best, but the most messy and real.  Sunday should be when we stagger into a church community bloodied, bruised, and dirty from a week of laboring on behalf of the Lord.  It should be when we carry in our heavy ruck sacks weighted down with the anxiety and pressure of the week, and hand that over to Christ.  Sunday should be when we are in our track suits, lacing up our running shoes, and ready to hit the new week nourished by God’s Word, refreshed by His love, and wiped clean by His blood.

Looking forward to worshipping with our new community tomorrow morning, where I will not be arriving in my Sunday Best but in my Monday-through-Saturday Mess.