White Shirts

“What IS the deal with the white shirts?”

Emma interjected the question during a conversation that began about business attire. I had just remarked that sometimes I wore my current outfit - green slacks and tweed jacket - to church, except I would change the tan shirt for a white shirt.

Emma is a Baptist, but has lived in Utah all her life. She has observed a lot of Mormons going to church.

“It’s nothing doctrinal” I said. “Peer pressure I suppose. I can see how that custom would be daunting for someone attending our church for the first time”

“I guess it is like the older ladies in my church who wear hats” She said.

“Not as much as we wear white shirts”, I opined.

“No, they always wear them” she said

We concluded a lot of what we wear at church is more a matter of culture then doctrine. I told her when I lived in the Philippines, as a teen, I wore a barong to church. No tie – it was great. My brother had a barong, too, but he also had a suit made from camouflage fabric. He and several of his friends would wear them to church. I can’t imagine seeing one of those today.

Emma told me she once visited a relative’s congregation. The minister met her wearing a baseball cap and the ushers wore doo-rags.

“That was different” she said, but she enjoyed the service nonetheless.

Later I checked conference reports for “white shirts”. As expected, I didn’t find any requirements for men to wear them but several brethren did encourage the Aaronic priesthood to wear white shirts when administering the sacrament. It would help prepare them to dress like missionaries where white shirts are a requirement. The other reason given is the white would help remind members of the other sacred ordinances made in the Temple. I concluded I would probably continue to wear white shirts in sacrament meeting as encouragement for the young men, however I also know I would feel self-consious if I didn't.

But wearing white shirts to church is not a requirement. Yesterday was stake conference – no sacrament meeting. I wore my green pants, tweed jacket, and tan shirt.

During my discussion with Emma she told me about watching a group of young men and women walking to the institute chapel next to Weber State University. Among the group was an African American wearing a red suit.

She said “I thought, ‘Brother, you already stand out, that suit isn’t going to help’”

“More power to him” I laughed.

But was he wearing a white shirt?