It's a daft photo - me with some sort of glitter stuff stuck to my face and wearing a bright pink hat!

Today's object is 'hat' and the Bible reading is the bit from 1 Corinthians 11 about the wearing of hats (or at least covering the head) in worship.  The reflection talks about culture and tradition, freedom and respect, all of which is fine.

But.

Etched in my memory is the Sunday morning in 2010 when I stood in the shower and watched the hair wash off of my head.  I put on a scarf (my scalp so sore that the wig was unbearable; I never wore it after that) and headed off to church.

I have a bit of a hate-hate relationship with hats! I don't like them, but nowadays when it's cold I need to wear a hat to keep my head warm, and when it's sunny to protect the back of my head/neck. I have a range of woolly hats, chosen to coordinate with my coats, cos I'm an old-fashioned kind of a girl. I have some sun-hats and I kept a few scarves for use in summer.

I wonder what hats symbolise for you? I wonder how you feel about them?

Perhaps the point isn't the object, but the complexity and ambivalence of it, the interplay of necessity and choice, culture and tradition, freedom and control...

Do you wear hats, God? And if so, when? And why? (I once asked if you were bald - you didn't reply!).  Help me to be willing to engage in the complex reflection of the 'why' as well as the 'what'. Oh, and if you could let me know about the hats thing... ?! ;-)