Today we went to church in Palma de Mallorca. The ward was great, and it was so wonderful being there in Spain with everyone. In Sunday School, we started out talking about faith. It was a great discussion - and then someone brought up something about wearing pants to church "like the girls in Utah."
Then followed a great discussion, with half the people asking what the big deal is and half the people trying to explain why it's important for girls to wear skirts or dresses to church, and others stating that their opinion is that God doesn't even care at all, and the missionaries and ward leaders trying to explain everything. The teacher called on me to ask what I thought about it, and I found myself suddenly in a position with everyone looking at me and waiting to see what I thought, since I am one of those "girls from Utah." I did my best to explain that I believe that the way I dress at church demonstrates respect for myself and for God and it's important to dress in a way that I would want to be dressed if He were to come to our meeting.
It made me a bit sad. I understand that a lot of people are upset, thinking that it's a rule that girls have to wear skirts and men don't have to. I understand that many women don't want to feel diminished at all in the church. I understand that for many, their "best clothes" might not be a skirt, and I understand the viewpoint that one can wear pants and look much nicer and respectable than in a skirt.
What saddens me is simply that it seems many people are missing the point. It's not about fighting for "equality" in rules or norms in the church. It's about respect - respect for God, respect for ourselves, respect for others. And it's about acting out of reverence and humility, not about making ourselves stand out. And so for me, wearing a skirt to church isn't about conforming to some rule that's been imposed upon me, it's about dressing myself in a way that doesn't draw undue attention and in a way that demonstrates my respect for my Heavenly Father when I'm attending church. And for me, complying with the norms of the church isn't a burden, it's just something that I do to show Heavenly Father that I'm trying to serve Him and not take glory for myself.
The whole experience made me realize something else, too. I've never experienced much of the mission field, but I realized today that these little things that come up and end up on the news - protests, etc, in the church - they make a difference. The whole world is looking at us - and not just the people who aren't members. We all watch each other, and the things that I do as a member of the church can either help someone else gain a testimony of the gospel, or they can hurt them. Today, I was sad because I felt that this whole pants protest hurt the people and the investigators in this ward, halfway around the world from the whole issue. I felt like a lot of people didn't know what to think, other than that if they're doing it in Utah, it's okay to do it in the rest of the world too. In Matthew 5, Christ tells us that "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." I think I really gained a testimony of that today - and it makes me take a step back and pay attention to what I do and what kind of an example I'm setting.
