I was having a chat with someone recently who made a little comment about how some of their fellow countrymen dressed. They wished they were a little more respectful of church. Specifically, having hoods up in church was seen as a little disrespectful. I was (for anybody who has ever seen how I dress), unsurprisingly, much more sanguine.

I appreciated the genuine zeal and concern for the good of the church. My friend was not suggesting we were in some way failing in our duty as a church. Rather, they were most concerned about what they perceived to be disrespect. They wanted the Lord, his people and his church to be honoured.

For what it’s worth, I can totally get behind that desire. It is, I am sure, the desire behind those who insist on suit and tie for Sundays or who are keen to make sure dudes don’t wear hats and whatnot. I think the concern is misplaced (more on which in a minute) and I don’t always appreciate the censurious and sometimes angry tone that doesn’t often convey care and concern for those they are telling off. But I can appreciate their genuine desire to see the Lord honoured and respected and their belief that clothing is a specific outworking of it.

But I said to my friend, in their country, women must wear headscarfs. They must do so out and about and they must do so in the mosque. What material difference (if you’ll pardon the pun) is there between a woman pulling some cloth over her head or a man having a bit on his? Why is the one respectful but the other disrespectful? I appreciate there are broader cultural answers that we might think of, but there are no objective or logical ones. What is more, there are some more localised and (sub) cultural arguments we can make in there being no disrespect in wearing a hood and some specifically problematic issues with people attempting to show respect by dressing in a shirt and tie. Rather than judging people’s outward appearances (the Bible does have some specific things to say about that), we ought to be more interested in people’s hearts.

I also pointed out to my friend – sat there as I was – how I dressed. As one of my friends said, I dress like a badly drawn extra from Tony Hawk’s pro-skater. I sometimes wear hats when I preach (just like all your favourite preachers). I gave the example of another of our friends who said they really struggled with the thought of coming to church as they were because, to quote them directly, ‘I dress like a right chav’. However, to quote them directly again, ‘but then I saw you and I felt alright’. The fact is, quite a lot of people in our community are put off by the thought of church because they think it is a club for posh people.  When they arrive, if all they see is people dressed up to the nines in posh clothes and suits, we reinforce their assumed message: this is not for people like me. To see ordinary people, wearing ordinary clothes – even if they look like they got their clothes at the charity shop and got dressed in the bin – it helps people to feel that this is a place for them. They don’t need to get themselves together before they are welcome.

But perhaps the most important issue is this one. If I am more concerned that somebody is wearing a hood than I am if they know Jesus, something is wrong. If someone feels more comfortable coming in with their hood up – maybe they have autism and it’s a safety blanket for them, maybe they just feel more comfortable, maybe it’s how they would dress ordinarily, or whatever – why would I make an issue of that? I’d rather they came in, sat there with their hood up throughout and heard about Jesus far more than I would prefer to have them take their hood down, show more respect and leave having got their back up. What’s my primary concern here: that people dress respectfully or that people come and encounter Jesus? If they don’t know Jesus, why would I expect them to dress respectfully at any rate? Their primary need is to come to know him, not for me to be able to see their hair! If they do know Jesus, their primary need is to grow up in him not to make sure they have no material on their head. Even if we view it as any sort of issue, it surely can’t be a significant or primary one so far as the church is concerned.

And so, yes, even people wearing hoods are welcome. I feel no need to police what people have on their heads. Unless what they’re wearing is so distracting and problematic that absolutely nobody can focus at all on the reason why we’re there, there isn’t a problem. And that has never happened yet. Nor do I think a hood amount to such a distracting menace nobody can engage with the Word as its being preached. If they don’t know Jesus yet, I don’t want to make a hood a major barrier. If they do, well, it’s before their own master they stand or fall. It isn’t sin, it isn’t that distracting and so – even somebody wearing a hood throughout – let them wear what they may. I don’t think Jesus is too worried about their head; he’s more interested in their heart.