January 10 – “Wearing hats”

I was struck yesterday (or would that be stricken?) when I realized how many different hats I was wearing within about a four hour period.  It was dizzying.  After finishing up my water therapy class (There’s hat number one – patient), I went to the church to see if I could figure out a way to fix what was going on with the phone.  I tried to get it to forward calls to my cell phone, but that didn’t work, so instead I changed the message on the answering machine and located the instructions for calling in and listening to messages from a remote location.  I guess my attempt at wearing hat #2 as a telephone repairman didn’t go so well. 

While I was in the church office I did some straightening up.  I found an old ID card in a pile of papers that belonged to none other than my son Nathan.  It was his college ID card from when he was in College of the Mainland in 2004.  What was it doing amidst church papers?  Who knows.  But he is my son, so that makes for hat #3 – father.  I also found an unusual box.  It had apparently been delivered some time ago, but the address on the top wasn’t the church’s.  The box had been opened, and all the contents appeared to be there, so I walked it across the street to the correct address and made the delivery (hat #4 – mailman).  The lady was quite appreciative and happily introduced herself.  I did the same, wearing hat#5 – neighbor. 

My next stop was the worship center where I was determined to take down and store away the Christmas decorations.  I suppose that is a job that just about any church member could take care of, so there was hat #6 – church member.  Once the decorations were stored, the next step was a good floor sweeping.  Even artificial garland can shed an inordinate amount of those annoying little pieces.  And I had to rearrange the pews for better traffic flow on Sunday mornings.  So, custodian hat was number 7.  While doing it, though, I became somewhat sad.  This was, after all, a task that in years past Chris and I have done together.  Strangely, she must have been thinking of me as well.  She sent me a text reminding me that I had to pick up Cailyn at school (Hat #8 – DadDad).  She also wanted to tell me that Mom had continued on her talking binge that started about midnight and never stopped.  She was quite pleasant.  It just lasted all night long.  So hat #9 (son) came with a sigh and a shake of the head.  Of course I also texted my undying love, using the opportunity to be janitorially romantic, which required shifting to hat #10 – husband. 

There was a lot of sweeping to do, and at one point an older couple came to the door.  I let them in and we talked for a while.  They were staying at the state park for a month or so and were checking out possible places to worship while they were here.  I told them all about Seaside (hat #11 - pastor), but I noticed they were looking at me kind of funny the whole time.  That’s not so unusual, actually.  People look at me like I’m strange all that time.  The man finally asked me, “Are you the pastor?”  I apologized for not making that clear.  I told him I realized sweeping may not have been what he expected to see the pastor doing.  He chuckled and said, “Oh, it wasn’t the sweeping.  We get that.  It was the hat you are wearing.”  Ah, yes.  The hat.  I had forgotten.  The whole time I had been wearing hat #12, my fire department chaplain cap.  Like I said … dizzying.

Matthew 3:16-17 says, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”

Father, as One who understands about wearing a lot of hats, thank you for all the relationships my hats represent.  I especially appreciate the hat marked, “saved one.”  Amen.