One Sunday morning, an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin. Although the old man and his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt, and boots that were very worn and ragged. In his hand, he carried a worn out old hat and an equally worn out Bible. The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and accessories.

As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all appalled at his appearance and did not attempt to hide it. As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. "Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask him what he thinks would be appropriate attire for worship." The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.

The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same clean but worn jeans, shirt, boots, and hat. Once again, he was completely shunned and ignored. The preacher approached the man and said, "I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church."

"I did," replied the old cowboy.

"If you spoke to God, what did He tell you the proper attire should be for worshipping in here?" asked the preacher.

"Well, sir, God told me that He didn't have a clue what I should wear. He said He'd never been in this church."

While it is a joke it is truly a sad story and may be a true story in some churches in which form is more important than practice. If it is my coat and tie you want to see, Iıll send it and I will stay home and sleep. Times and customs change; I have not been in a church recently where blue jeans and a polo shirt were not totally acceptable in worship services.

Some years ago the mainstream fundamentalist churches got all uptight about long hair on boys. That controversy always bothered me a bit when every picture you see of Jesus shows a man who has not been to a barbershop lately.

We live in a world of embraced causes, save the whales, save the tree, save the winged darter. These are good things, I suppose, although none of them raises my interest level very much. There is "Honk for peace" and "Honk if you love Jesus." Iıll never forget one time coming up behind a car with that bumper sticker, tooting my horn merrily and receiving in return a gesture of disrespect.

The Apostle Paul gave us a cause to embrace in Ephesians 5: 21 when he said, ³Submit yourselves one to the other.² A submitted church would reach out to even a dirty cowboy. Submission means simply for you to put othersı needs ahead of your own. Loving relationships come easily when we do that. Embrace a cause but be sure your cause is right and truly makes a difference.