About those ties...

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<<But, surely, you wouldn't think it ever appropriate to preach in
another's church without a suit and tie?>>

Seems a bigger "issue" among Holiness folks in past years was whether it
was appropriate to wear a tie *at all*! Thought some might enjoy this story
I came across in _The Early Morning Light_, a book on the Church of God
(Anderson, IN):

-----
>From 1908 to 1914 there developed heated debates over the wearing of
neckties. Some were red hot for wearing a tie. Others regarded it as a
worldly "superfluity." The battle was waged in ministers' meetings and camp
meetings with such heat that threats were sounded by the radical brethren
to start a new paper, get a new editor, and publish anti-compromising
literature if a clear stand were not taken. [Church leader and editor E.E.]
Byrum, conservative on the issue at first, began to moderate his position
and wrote September 11, 1913, in the Trumpet:

	The Trumpet has no disposition to the right or to the left
	in order to get on the radical or on the liberal side, but
	prefers to *stand on the Lord's side* on all questions at
	all times....So far as the dress question is concerned,
	The Trumpet has always advocated and shall continue to
	advocate, plainness of dress.

Not satisfied, the radicals...did pull off and start a paper called The
Herald of Truth. Descendants of this group still carry on their work today
in Guthrie, Oklahoma....

But the question would not die in Indiana, and Byrum was called to the
Yellow Lake Camp Meeting to settle the issue once and for all. The tension
built to a fever pitch as Byrum gathered himself to preach in the evening
service. Seated within arm's length at the right of the pulpit was the old
gospel warrior, M.P. Rimmer, holding on his lap a ten-gallon hat with a
bright red ribbon as a hatband. Before saying a word, Byrum reached down,
lifted the hat from Rimmer's lap, took off the hatband, and lowered it down
over his head so that the bow came to rest where a necktie would be. Byrum
stood there in silence for all to take the lesson in. They got the point.
Nothing was ever said about neckties after that.
-----

Cary Robison