Thought for the Week by Rev’d Vicci
Friends
I have a ridiculous number of hats – a veritable wardrobe of them! In the late 80’s/early 90’s, the slogan was “If you want to get ahead, get a hat,” and although most of us couldn’t stretch to a Philip Treacey (milliner/hatter to global celebrities, royals, fashion houses and high profile film and music icons) we did at least know who he was. As a young opera singer and director, a bit of flamboyance was expected and I wore my hats with pride.
Motherhood made hat-wearing harder and they went away for a decade or so, but then I had cancer in 2012/2013 and wore them more (bought more as well!) before putting them away again as my hair got in the way. You will be seeing them again as I go through chemo treatment, proving that no investment is ever truly lost.
It’s made me think about the hats we all wear, visibly or not. There are the crowns that we see hints of on the heads of some of our prayer warriors – as my mother used to say, those with crowns in heaven will be the old ladies in the back seats who pray for all the rest of us (I’m sure she meant the men as well! Then there are the hard hats of the property stewards, the nurse’s hats of those who support us with pastoral care, the administration caps of the stewards and treasurers, the mitre boards of the readers, preachers and worship leaders who study to lead us in opening the Bible, the artists’ berets of the creatives who work with our flowers, notice boards and public spaces to support people in understanding what we are doing and to help us focus on God’s creation, the chef’s hats of the catering and coffee team, the caps of the gardeners and so on. We all wear multiple, invisible hats as we work together for the glory of God.
As we continue to notice God at work in our lives, I wonder what hat you have on right now, and if you have noticed some of the hats others are wearing? Where would we all be without the crown of Jesus, the “come and see” of Philip (perhaps he had a raised umbrella, rather than a hat?), the mitre board of Paul, the knitted sailor’s cap of Peter and the bowler hat of Doctor Luke? I am looking forward to wearing my different hats in this coming year. I hope we can all enjoy them!
God bless, Vicci