What Not to Wear

What's right and what's wrong to wear on stage?  I've been in various church choirs and college choirs.  There were always some rules that people felt were too strict.  In my college choirs we had a number of these rules; no tattoos, no earrings on guys, no facial hair.    Why should we get reprimanded for expressing ourselves?  Granted, I don't have tattoos or earrings, and still can't grow a full beard, but I'm sure I was reprimanded for something.

How do we establish what is appropriate dress and how to act while we're on stage?  

1 Corinthians 8:9 gives us a worship philosophy of being sensitive to the perceptions and even misperceptions that fellow believers may have.  As long as we're talking about gray issues, not doctrinal truths, yielding to the weaker brother may be the right choice.  

Many Christian brothers and sisters would have had a major cow if we had broken their dress code.  It was no skin off our noses to defer to their rules which had no bearing on our own morality. 

One of the greatest lessons I learned in choir was that Worship was not about me.  Leading Worship is about setting aside my need for self-expression, my validation, my personal agenda, my recognition.  Worship is about praising God, telling His story and glorifying Him.  If your hat is causing people to grumble, take it off.  If your tattoo is drawing people’s attention away from God, cover it up.   Minimize distractions whenever possible and give the glory to God.

Do you agree?  Disagree?

Heart or Mind? What role does emotion play in Worship?

"The affects (emotions, emotional responses) are the feet that either lead us closer to God or carry us further from Him; but without them, we cannot travel the way at all" - Augustine of Hippo.

Faith or feeling? Rational or irrational? Objective or Subjective? Intellectual or Emotional? What would it be like if we removed emotion from Worship? Can we truly worship if we have a faith that is purely rational, intellectual?
We've been taught to be extremely guarded about our emotions because we think that we cannot trust emotion as much as our intellect. We're worried about appearing overly emotional. But can you really remove emotions from yourself? We can perhaps cut off a part of our physical body, but think of the harm it would cause us. Imagine what happens when we try to separate our emotions from our intellect, our heart from our mind. It's not meant to be done and it causes problems.
Two scriptures to think about: 1 Cor. 14:27-28 shows us that what takes place during worship should be able to be understood by everyone participating. There is some study involved, and it should benefit the believers mutually. 2 Sam. 6:14-22 contrasts the previous picture of worship with one that appears to be overly emotional and irrational (the king dancing in an undignified manner). David was not dressed or acting as the people thought the king should act, but he did not care about being embarrassed because he knew who his real audience was.

How do you juggle the way your mind thinks and the way your heart feels during worship?