The walk from the landing gate through the concourse to the waiting area and arms of my family was much shorter than my mind would allow me to believe. The sparse number of people on the plane and in the concourse on this Friday night allowed for free-flowing long strides. My mind beckoned a quicker pace but there was a sense of unnaturalness in running away from an airplane. I walked a bit faster knowing no hurry was required. A brisk walk would consume the short distance before me and I would soon greet my waiting family. Maybe as their figures formed in the distance, I could embark on a quick paced jog, but then again the time that had elapsed since my last visit perhaps should not elicit such a response. It had only been 9 months, 9 months that had left me overextended and exhausted. Energy was scarce; perhaps the time away would provide rejuvenation.

The waiting area flattened out and expanded in the distance. Large lights, attached to the high airport ceiling, provided little aid. The people around seemed now to present a distraction. Bobbing heads blocked my vision and uninvited voices grabbed my attention. My eyes continued searching; I was now in a hurry. As the fast approaching exit doors bid farewell to weary travelers, someone called my name.

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As I quickly scaled the 4 brick steps to the greeting of a cologne-scented, dressed and polished early bird in the church foyer, I was bursting at the seams with anticipation. Many times previous to this day, I had walked down the 15-row aisle of pews and found my seat at this church just south of Atlanta. During the service, and particularly upon initial morning entrance, I had often forgotten that others were in my presence. I sat down. With readied expectation and keen familiarity, I slowly turned slightly to the right in order to feel the sunlight warm my face. It was a pleasant sort of warmth, and even though the sunlight was immaterial, its beam through the stained glass was readily present and its strength was constant.

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Friday afternoon while walking to my car located in the seminary parking lot, a friend confidently stated, “Without question, our cultural and spiritual identities are intertwined in Christ. Our cultural identity is equally a creation and revelation of the power and personality of God. It’s obvious.”

Saturday morning until lunch seemed open and available so I put it to good use. I decided to take in the Ligonier Conference (a conference held by R.C. Sproul in Orlando each year, for those who don't know) on Saturday, March 11th. The hymns and speakers were excellent but I was on a mission, a mission to inform and encourage other African-Americans that they were not the only black folks embracing and dining with Reformed Theology.

I assured them that because they were in the fellowship of thousands of believers at this conference, it by necessity meant that some of those believers would look like them. God’s elect encompass all ethnicities I said to myself as I walked down a corridor during a break in the services. I encouraged them by informing them that even though the African-Americans present composed a minuet percentage of the attendees, this microscopic percentage was a microcosm of the national percentage of African-Americans who belong to the American Reformation today, which translates into thousands!

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Whatever happened to a type of church attire? More specifically, whatever happened to “wearing your best for the Lord” on Sundays? Why has the church gone the way of business casual to just casual in some circles? I think the reason is partly because the church in very real ways whether she knows it or not is taking her cue from the “world” (again) via good ole corporate America.

Here’s the correlation: as soon as corporate America started gravitating toward business casual to just casual, all of a sudden the church started doing the same thing. Coincidence? Probably not…and I find it even more interesting that the Black church is starting to do the same thing in some ways, though, not as much as many white churches.

Here’s the (X-socio-)rub: if corporate America is mainly dominated by Anglos and they make up most of the evangelical church population, could it be that culture trends in corporate America are affecting many churches since that same group is predominate in both? Could it also be that black churches are following the same predominately white paradigm unknowingly? I’ll let you draw your on conclusions from that one.

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