Going to Church? 

Jeremiah 2:25a reads, “Keep your feet from going unshod, and your throat from thirst.” In context, the message is sarcastic: don’t wear out your shoes and parch your throat in your eager pursuit of idol-worship. But I lightheartedly think: aren’t Bible people artistically depicted with bare feet? It must be okay as long as we’re not practicing idolatry!

Years earlier, I had a summer friend who went shoeless nearly everywhere. “I have to go barefoot!” As we walked downtown and around neighborhoods, we entered into her local church—back then, the doors were always open—and, as we circled the sanctuary upon the carpeted outer aisle, she explained the Stations of the Cross. She described a dream wherein she went to Mass without shoes on, and when she came forward for the host, the priest chided her.