'render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and render unto God what belongs to God'

It's a rather typical Saturday night and I'm preparing myself for church in the morning. Dress: check Shoes: check Short, neat, french tips: check Pretty hair: check Bookmarked readings for tomorrow: ...not so check... The problem? Vanity. And redundancy. Sunday by Sunday us 'church-goers' mill into our desired place of worship, at our preffered time-slot. We sit there and scrutinize each other (the view is always better from the altar, trust me), we try and focus on the preach, but like school it can sometimes be a laboured feat. Have we forgotten the purpose of our weekly visit? Has it just become part of the ritual that decorates our ideal lives? Tomorrow when you are in church, (or Wednesday, or next Sunday...) just sit down..and STOP. Take it all in. Think about the day you were confirmed, your blessing on your birthday, the Christmas play you enjoyed. Look at the building, the symbolism around you, the colours, the candles, the Crucifix. Think about the people who arent present. Why? Think about how blessed you are to be sitting there right then. You could walk till there... Some people don't have legs. You can read the Bible... Some people are illiterate. You can be in church... Some people live in secular states where they find themselves prohibited from their faith. In all of this try and remember how much you love that moment when you're caught up singing your favourite hymn- and renew you're feelings about this old brick (or wooden, or cement..) building you find yourself in. Renew your desire to praise. Righto! Next point. Vanity. Why am I wearing such a pretty dress tomorrow when nobody else will see it under my servers' robes? How is shaving my legs (toomuch information, sorry) relevant in anyway? Admittedly I am a bit on the fence about this issue. While we shouldn't consider church to be a social gathering, surely our Lord would appreciate that to us, the church and it's people, are where we choose to socialize ourselves? We should not lend ourselves to the ways of the world and conformism, but surely our God would prefer that we present ourselves to him at what we consider to be our very best? Such a slippery topic. I am at a loss for words. Ah! I have an answer:

'come as you are, not as you want'

'render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and render unto God what belongs to God'

We live in a material world and this is understood. We should then enter the Lord's building in a way that we understand to be suitable and/or presentable. We should come in a way that we will feel confident but we should come for the right reasons. We should come because we want to be there, because we want to worship, because we want to hear and learn and believe. So believe then! And if you feel like your actions are not well guided pray for guidance. Your Lord wants to listen. All you have to do is speak.