Sunday Clothes

Today is "Day 3" of my 30 pieces/6 months journey.

It is Sunday, and because of that, my clothes chose themselves: dress clergy shirt (with collar), black capris, lightweight black jacket, sandals. Though I have been a pastor for well over two decades now, I haven't really thought about wearing "Sunday clothes" for a long time, maybe even since my childhood. But that's what I did today: I wore my Sunday clothes for a warm season. I have indeed worn "Sunday clothes" for years, but I haven't thought about it in those terms.

When I was a child, growing up in rural Minnesota, Sunday clothes really were a "thing." We dressed up to go to church, even though I didn't like dresses at the time. We wore on Sunday what would otherwise be worn only on very special occasions. It was a marker in our lives that Sunday was different than other days, like using the good china for Sunday dinner - a meal that in rural Minnesota was, and still is, at noon.

My thoughts about "Sunday clothes" have put me in a reflective mood, thinking about that  place and the people who so significantly formed and shaped me. My early years of faith were nurtured in a rural country church, a white building on a hill, with a handful of faithful families. If I close my eyes, I can still vividly see it. I can smell its particular scent. I can hear its bell toll. I can see the families and where they all regularly sat. I can feel the smooth wood of the pews on my back. And it is good.

So many of the older and oldest generations are gone now, many of them having worn "Sunday clothes" every Sunday of their lives. I imagine now what I never thought of then: it was probably not an easy life for many, seeking to make a living in the era of the small family farm. But they worked hard, they most likely kept their struggles to themselves - I was too young to know of grown up struggles at the time - and on Sundays, they gathered together in their "Sunday clothes." And that too was good.

From that place and those people of "Sunday clothes" I learned I great deal, not the least of which is a spirit of perseverance. You keep going after the crop is hailed out. You believe in next year after a season of unfavorable prices. You know that spring will come after months of mountains of snow. Each day is another day forward, another day onward on this journey that takes us wherever it will.

Which brings me to yesterday's clothes -- long-sleeved t-shirt that says "onward, by all means," black shorts and sandals - a good thing to have worn on day 2. A good thing to remember at the start of another week - "onward, by all means." Onward, indeed.