I woke up the other day thinking about holy communion. There was no other place to get that but in church. The chalice full of wine was on my mind. The problem was that my Sundays are always filled with sporting commitments.
And I usually don’t compromise on these commitments because I believe if we keep children together, we can fix some of the problems we are facing.
But this Sunday morning I had to revive myself and visit the house of the Lord. While it was good to be among the believers for a change, my long absence from church had cost me knowledge. Churches have changed. As someone who grew up with the old church doctrine and laws, I was amazed by some of the things happening inside the church which I believe older people would not approve of. I am talking about women wearing pants – and lipstick – to church, and kids going in and out during the service.
I may be representing a world that no longer exists, so please bear with my outdated or conservative observations.
Since Sunday’s service, I’ve been gauging the mood of church-goers as well as non-church goers about the issue of wearing lipstick to church.
As expected, there are different feelings about it. I tried to debate it with women. But I failed that test.
While they saw nothing wrong with wearing lipstick to church – because it makes everyone look a bit brighter – my problem is that red, blue, yellow, purple lip colour does not look good on the chalice which has to be shared by all those taking communion.
For those who do not go to church, there is something called holy communion. You down the holy communion wafers with a drink of wine. We all use one nice cup called a chalice.
While there is a cloth used to wipe the chalice after each sip, the white cloth is soon stained by the multiple lip colours worn to church that morning.
After such an experience, I questioned my trusted muse in Jo’burg.
This is what she told me about it; “Lipstick is about more than aesthetics to us. Yes, it makes us look and feel pretty and allows us to change our look and mix and match with our outfits as we please.
“But more that, lipstick is about power and armour. We wear it to battle the same way a warrior carries a spear.
“Red lipstick for instance makes us sexy but more importantly, makes us feel powerful. The dark lipstick like black or navy is used as a tool of rebellion, a f.k you to the world and conformity. Blush colours like pink and orange are for those cute flirty feminine moms.”
Quite a mouthful.
Who can dispute that? I spoke to the elder in church who was far from happy. When I asked him, he was dumbstruck, first by my observation and because, he said he has been talking about the issue to those above him.
Smiling, he answered, if you still want to live longer, shut your mouth and follow. But let me say it is good to see change in how people perceive church and its laws. During our times, the house of the Lord was over-respected and not questioned enough. I feel it was discriminatory to women.
A woman was not allowed to wear pants, paint her nails, or wear a wig and lipstick. I am talking about the traditional churches not the ones with nice names.
Having said that, let me admit that it is difficult to sit in church and watch things you are not used to. For those of us who are from the world that was, church is no longer for us. Icawe iphumile kuthi. Amen