For various reasons, we often slip into “casual discipleship” mode. What a great example you have shared in telling how you and your husband loveingly helped your son to understand “the importance of acting and dressing the part he was playing and changing what was inside him.”

My Sunday-go-to-meetin’ clothes are cotton skirts and matching flipflops, because my teenage daughter thinks they’re cool.

–The Editrix, who religiously wore stockings and designer foot-mangling high heels (even in tropical Hong Kong!) until the day she ran into a bare-legged Princess Diana on a formal state visit. Gasp! For about three seconds. Then the common sense kicked in, and I saw her point. It was the LAST time I wore pantyhose.

It is an affront to God to come into His house, especially on His holy day, not groomed and dressed in the most careful and modest manner that our circumstances permit. Where a poor member from the hills of Peru must ford a river to get to church, the Lord surely will not be offended by the stain of muddy water on his white shirt.

But how can God not be pained at the sight of one who, with all the clothes he needs and more and with easy access to the chapel, nevertheless appears in church in rumpled cargo pants and a T-shirt? Ironically, it has been my experience as I travel around the world that members of the Church with the least means somehow find a way to arrive at Sabbath meetings neatly dressed in clean, nice clothes, the best they have, while those who have more than enough are the ones who may appear in casual, even slovenly clothing.

Some say dress and hair don’t matter—it’s what’s inside that counts. I believe that truly it is what’s inside a person that counts, but that’s what worries me. Casual dress at holy places and events is a message about what is inside a person. It may be pride or rebellion or something else, but at a minimum it says, “I don’t get it. I don’t understand the difference between the sacred and the profane.” In that condition they are easily drawn away from the Lord. They do not appreciate the value of what they have. I worry about them. Unless they can gain some understanding and capture some feeling for sacred things, they are at risk of eventually losing all that matters most. You are Saints of the great latter-day dispensation—look the part.

You have brought up an excellent point regarding the definition of the word “formal” in the context of church dress. I agree that American term “semi-formal”, as you define it, is probably better than the word “formal” to describe appropriate church dress, at least in the U.S. Although in some wards young women do come to church in their prom dresses the Sunday after the prom, tuxedos (and corresponding attire for women) are not usually considered appropriate for Sacrament Meeting.

But even “semi-formal” doesn’t always translate into what I think the Brethren are tring to express when they give the general guidlines such as Elder Holland spoke of (#54).

Since the point of my post was to try to bring out the reasons why many people in the U.S. tend to dress more casually now, we have been trying to stay away from too many specifics; so my answer to your question, “Where does the line start, and where does the line stop?” is to merely refer back to the general guidelines that current apostles and prophets talk about.

CS Eric, that was interesting to hear about Korea!