Head Coverings

It all started as a verse-by-verse journey through the book of 1 Corinthians but suddenly the journey ended up crashing into a piece of cloth! We studied many things, sexual sin, church discipline, Christians suing Christians, sexual relationship in marriage, and divorce. You would think one of those topics would have been controversial! But everything was silent until I came to 1 Corinthians 11 and preached on the topic of head coverings! I received an e-mail pointing me to a post on a blog. The name of the blog is Those Head coverings. Take a guess what the blog is all about? Wow, you are right, head coverings. This is what they had to say about my sermons on the topic:


I'm currently listening to, but haven't finished yet, listening to the preacher at the site above speaking on the passages in 1 Corinthians discussing head coverings and women in worship. The preacher is handling this as a touchy, difficult passage, so it takes him quite a while to get to the subject, because he's trying to deal with the sensitivities of his audience and soften things with a conversational (almost rambling) tone. But he makes some good points in there about obedience and authority. [The important subject is that of the role of women, as presented in the Bible, and it is not a well-received or understood topic in our part of the world; but it is necessary to understanding the place of "headcovering".] A three part lesson so far, each section about an hour long.


Not a derogatory post but I did find a few things interesting:

The preacher is handling this as a touchy, difficult passage, so it takes him quite a while to get to the subject.

Actually I am trying my best to do a verse-by-verse study of the text. The first two verses are not about head coverings but they are a part of the text and must be studied if you are going got actually preach the text.

This statement made me laugh:

Because he's trying to deal with the sensitivities of his audience and soften things with a conversational (almost rambling) tone.


I have never been accused in my 8 years as a pastor of being sensitive to my audience. I preach the truth of the text whether it offends or pleases the audience.


Almost rambling: I went back and listened to all three sermons and I truly believe I stated on topic the entire time. I must once again stress the goal. This is a verse-by-verse study of 1 Corinthians 11. If people are not familiar with expositional preaching, then it may come across as rambling.

Someone posted a comment and said this about my sermons on this subject:


I listen to part 1 and 2. He didn't seem to say anything at all. It seemed to me he was saying "we don't know and we can't know because it's from the past. and we don't really know what is going on there"
I've got to go to work, but will listen to part 3 when i get back from it and running all my errands.
Not a bad idea to listen to sermons while cleaning - I should do it more often (both the sermons and the cleaning)



2 hours of my preaching and I didn't say anything at all! That hurts (that is said in a joking manner)



I posted a comment to respond to everything:


Thanks for posting the link to my sermon. I apologize if I appeared to be rambling. I truly want to deal with the text in a fair and detailed manner. I know that any conclusion I come to will be rejected by many. Lock 10 people in a room and have all of them read 1 Corinthians 11 and you will probably end up with 10 different ideas on what the text means and how we should apply it. I will finish the section on Head coverings this Sunday morning. I will post the audio of the message hopefully by Sunday afternoon. All my sermons are posted at www.sermonaudio.com/vbc and I also post the audio for many of the sermons at www.preachtoday.blogspot.com

Thanks again for posting the link and I will strive to improve on my preaching ability.

God bless

Pastor

Trevor Hammack


The author of the original post responded with this:

Hi - I appreciate your writing back to my post. I don't want to appear critical of your preaching, but was trying to point out to my readers that yours is not a cut and dried "here's how it is" sermon, but more of a conversational informal setting, in which you're trying to present controversial subjects in such a way as one must usually do in a public setting where you've got folks from a wide variety of backgrounds and understandings. Some of the preachers on these subjects are short and to the point as to what they believe, but perhaps because their target audience is more likely to understand and agree with where they're coming from. You are right - people will interpret these things, and all of scripture (especially the letters to the churches) as they want to read them. I know that God will judge our hearts, and not our "church answers" or church behaviors, whether we wear a scarf to pray or not. I do thank you for posting your "rambling" thoughts out loud, and sharing them with your group, because you do make many good points and parallels to other scripture to back up the understanding of the scriptures themselves as we have them. Looking forward to the end (?) of the series. -


A very nice response and I appreciate the person taking the time to write.


On Sunday the following was posted on the, Those Head Coverings blog:

This was posted as the QUOTE OF THE WEEK!

... What I saw at the Feast [of Sukkot] convinced me that if women of today weren't surrounded with all the garbage telling them that head coverings are "not necessary" or "bad" or "suppress you" or "are things of the past" or "just not necessary" or any of the other bogus and completely useless and unscriptural reasons to not ever wear one---then they would probably not be so opposed to it. Unfortunately our society has actually been the force suppressing women from being and doing what comes natural--head coverings in attire among other things.


Wow, so if I come to the conclusion that 1 Corinthians 11 does not command women to wear head coverings today then I am handing out garbage!


I have no desire to suppress women. In fact I do not want them to be in bondage to any mere human tradition or custom. I want them to live a life obedient to Christ and his word.

Here are some articles about the subject of head coverings:

Coverings

What is the Head Covering in 1 Cor 11:2-16 and Does it Apply to Us Today?


Here are the original sermons I preached so the reader can listen for themselves:












I preached part 4 Sunday morning but I am not ready to post it yet. I need to listen to it one more time and I am doing more study on the subject.


I hope all the information I have posted here will be of some help to someone.
Have a great night.