couldn't wait to hear what my Pastor had to say about the passage we were on for that week..
1 Corinthians 11: 2 - 16
I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you. But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man,[a] and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.
A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
I do believe the Bible to be God's Word to us, I believe that we need to take it literally, always knowing the historical and cultural context... I do not believe you can pick and choose what you think is still relevant in our time... so I was very curious to hear what I would learn about this passage today.. hadn't heard anything specific about head coverings from God when reading the passage and meditating on it..
long story short, this is what the Good Dr. Paul Little had to say:
as expected he did not think that this was about head coverings for the women.. but rather about the wonderful topic of authority and submission.. of the husband submitting to and honouring Christ by not abdicating his leadership role in a marriage but rather leading and serving his wife selflessly and sacrificially... putting her first and laying his life down for her daily..
of the wife willingly submitting to her husband and respecting him, being his greatest Cheer leader.. not trying to usurp power... this is what God gave us and we are to embrace it.. we do not need to get hung up on this.. our value and worth are the same, we just have different roles... rather than coming up with excuses why we are not "doing it" we should work on ways to do it...
the need for security a woman feels can only be met by a husband who by his commitment and love takes on the responsibility of leadership in the marriage, no matter how unloveable the wife might seem at times ... the need for significance a husband feels can only be met by a wife who admires her husband and respects him, even if it is for the potential she knows he has... rather than fighting this we need to realize that we do depend on each other for these fundamental needs...
nothing new, have worked through this and heard about it many times... understand it and embrace it... I know that my God is to be trusted, whatever He tells us to do is for our best... after all, He is the manufacturer... so He knows what will work for us..
not married at the moment and fully aware that it needs two to decide to live this way I believe firmly that this is the only way it can work.. I have no problem with submitting, I am actually thankful I am not a man... glad that I am not the one responsible.. there is freedom in yielding and letting go of control....
thanks be to God this is what He meant... was not quite okay with the whole head covering thing... phew...
