Tuesday, September 9, 2008

So Why Cover? part one

Martyr Anthusa
St. Poemen the Great
August 27 Old Style

The reasons why I began covering are not the reasons I cover now. It has been 17 years since I first took a piece of fabric and wrapped it around my head. I did not encounter 1 Corinthians 12 until much, much later. For this blog, I will focus mostly on the reasons that I have covered in church and out for much of the past 7 years.

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"For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.  Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God. "

A few years ago, I got stuck in 1 Corinthians. I simply could not get past what Paul was saying about headcoverings. I went to a church that took the inerrancy of the Bible seriously. So what was I supposed to make of this stuff about headcoverings especially since Paul was so insistent about them?

I went to the elders of my church and got two different answers: one said "It's cultural" and the other said, "I think we should be pulling out the headcoverings every time I read that verse." So, bottom line was they were no help. 

The thing about that verse is that the Apostle Paul appeals to the fact that there are angels to consider in all of this. If headcovering was cultural, why would angels who are not bound by culture or time care about them? And if they cared in 40 AD, why would they stop caring now?

Since no one was going to tell me not to wear a scarf, I decided to try it out and see how it felt. That's when things really started to happen...



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent point about the angels,Monica! If you really think about them during the second part of the Divine Liturgy, it is quite humbling. They do so much for us;guiding towards Christ and protecting us from the evil one, and yet all they ask in return is for us to wear a headcovering. How could that possibly be too much to ask?!

Blessings,
Mary

Staying in Balance said...

"That's when things really started to happen..."

The suspense is killing me!! :)