Head Cover What? | CHURCH IN CHAOS 1 Corinthians 11

You're listening to City Church Manchester. We

are a church that invites everyone to enjoy Christ

for the glory of God. If we can serve you in

any way, then visit our website at citychurchmanchester

.org to find out more. I praise you for remembering

me in everything and for holding to the traditions

just as I pass them on to you. But I want you

to realise that the head of every man is Christ.

And the head of the woman is man, and the head

of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies

with his head covered dishonours his head. But

every woman who prays or prophesies with her

head uncovered dishonours 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... 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. Thanks very much, Tessa.

And good afternoon, everyone. Really good to

be with you. And great to be with you as we unpack

this passage. It's a short passage, but there's

an awful... awful lot in it. So do keep your

Bibles open as we trek through. And I think you'll

agree, we're going to need the Lord's help, aren't

we? So let's pray. Heavenly Father, we know that

you are the God who speaks and we know that your

word is true. Yet we come before you humbly recognising

that we need your help to understand it. And

to apply it. Father, we recognise that there's

a number of things that will chafe against the

way of our culture. And perhaps the way of our

own lives and our hearts. And whether that is

not consistent with what you teach, I pray that

we would hear that challenge and respond. But

Father, I pray that you would not give us the

mind of contentiousness with a passage such as

this. But instead give us the mind of Christ.

May we see him. And as your words are proclaimed

over these next few minutes together, may the

very fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ saturate

all of us, lift our hearts to praise him, and

lead our lives and actions to honour him in all

that we do. Amen. Whenever an intern or a trainee

pastor at City Church... has the opportunity

to do a talk, either at City Church or somewhere

else. And they get the passage that they're going

to be teaching on for the first time and they'll

come into the office and they'll say, hey, I've

got this passage that I'm going to be preaching

on or teaching on. I tend to do a fairly cruel

and jokey thing. I turn to them and say, didn't

you know that is the hardest passage in all of

Scripture? Good luck. And just watch their faces

drop. As that dawns on them. Now, of course,

the joke is on me today because actually, genuinely,

I think this is probably one of the toughest,

if not the toughest passage in Scripture. And

I've got nowhere to turn. So we're going to go

straight through it and see what happens. And

I think it's particularly difficult as a passage

for three reasons. Number one, this passage is

theologically thicker than a McFlurry. I think

it is because actually it draws from ideas and

threads from right across the Bible. Number two,

this passage is the equivalent of a pina colada

of theological passages. It takes local historic

customs from the time, some of which are not

relevant to today, and it takes other customs

that are very relevant today, and it puts them

together. And number three, the set of applications

that the Apostle Paul is making in this particular

passage, by our current standards, could be interpreted

as restrictive to men, regressive to women, and

dangerous to both. So with that in mind, I want

you to imagine this afternoon. Let's think of...

happier things. Let's imagine this afternoon

we're going to be baking a cake. There's going

to be two ingredients that we need to prepare

up front. That is, we need to look at the theological

framework and we need to look at the historical

context. Then we need to kind of whisk that together,

so to speak. as we do the exegesis of what the

passage exactly says. And then finally, we'll

get the cake in the oven, pull it out, and pull

out the application. Voila. Doesn't that sound

nice? Now, some of you go, he knows nothing about

baking. Why is he using that analogy? Well, let's

dive in. The theological framework, the theological

framework, the first of the two ingredients we

need to prepare. Now, the challenge for The challenge

for Christianity when it takes root in any culture

is which customs from the culture does it need

to retain and which customs from the culture

does it need to reject? And determining factor

of which does it retain and which does it reject

comes down to what I like to call the fragrance

of Eden. The fragrance of Eden. What do I mean?

Well, in the Bible, the setup of Genesis, first

book of the Bible, chapters 1 and 2, that is

the creation and the relationships before the

fall, are used throughout Scripture as the enduring

picture of God's design for how things should

be. And in Genesis 1 and 2, you have a picture

of a Trinitarian God, you have a good creation,

and you have relational harmony between men and

women. And in Genesis 1 and 2... You almost have

for us today, when you look at the whole of the

Bible, Genesis 1 and 2 is like the picture on

the box of a thousand -piece jigsaw. You've got

a thousand pieces to put together, but Genesis

1 and 2 give you the picture of what it should

look like when it does fit together. So what

does Genesis 1 and 2 talk about? Well, Genesis

describes at the very beginning. You have our

God, Father, Son, and Spirit, one God, but three

distinct persons, equally God, but different

roles. In God, there is oneness, there is diversity,

there is equal dignity and equal power, but they

require the key ingredient of headship. What

is headship? is a relationship dynamic where

not all of the persons are fighting for power,

but they are willing, because of love and because

of trust, to lay down their inherent authority

to the other. It's a little bit like a dance

where one person leads and the other person follows

in absolute synchronicity that it is beautiful

to watch. And in Genesis chapter 1 and 2, where

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

all relationships are in harmony, human relationships

echo the diversity and the unity of God. And

that's meant to be beautiful for us to see. Now

that is true as it plays out amongst those of

us here who are single, but it is particularly

echoed in married couples. For marriage holds

the particular powerful fragrance of Eden. Because

just as God the Father is the head of God the

Son, and God the Son submits to God the Father,

the husband has headship over his wife, and the

wife submits to her husband. Do you see? They

echo one another. Now, I appreciate here that

the word submit means that alarm bells are going

to be ringing in the heads of a number of you.

Because one of the ways that headship and even

submission has been used in history has been

to justify abuse and slavery and all manner of

terrible sins. But biblically, this idea of headship

and submission is a word that must be reclaimed

for the beauty that it's meant to actually represent.

It is this idea of I love you and I trust you

so much that I'm willing to place my well -being

and my thriving into your hands and where you

lead, I will follow. It's not meant to be a dirty

word. It's meant to be beautiful. Ephesians 5

says that the responsibility actually is so great

for the one who is leading the relationship,

so great that when someone puts their trust in

you, that if you are the leader in that relationship,

that if it is necessary for you to sacrifice

yourself for the other, then you should do it

as standard. Think about it like this. If Christ

submits to God the Father, then there is nothing

undignified about submitting to someone who is

worthy of that trust. And that is what the picture

of marriage is meant to show. Marriage for Christians

is radically different to any other marriage.

And it radically is meant to smell. like Eden.

It's meant to reflect the picture of Genesis

1 and 2. Now, one of the most beautiful aspects

of this headship dynamic is that the leader,

the husband, is supposed to be a walking advertisement

for the glory of the wife, the one who is following.

That is, the husband is meant to proclaim to

the rooftops the significance, the wonder, And

the value of his wife. That is part of the Eden

fragrance. For example, when humanity is created,

God proclaims from the rooftops at the joy of

creation. He says creation isn't just good, it

is very good. When Jesus is baptised and God

the Father proudly proclaims with joy, you are

my beloved son. With you I am well pleased. He's

proclaiming from the rooftops. And when Eve is

created from Adam, her husband, Adam's joy just

bubbles over into a poem where he says, This

is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. One of

the very first poems is penned to the glory of

his wife. It is the ancient world way of saying,

You complete me. Now, when Eve is created, she

is given the title of helper. And that word is

used to describe wives in marriage. But you need

to know that it is not the equivalent of a lesser

servant. No, the word helper. that is given to

wives, can be found 20 times in the Old Testament.

17 of those times is used to describe what God

is like. And three of those times is used to

describe a strong and powerful military aid.

There is nothing weak, nothing regressive, nothing

patronizing about that title. And so when a married

couple dance through life, In a way that echoes

the Godhead. It brings glory to God. And it is

a powerful signpost to the world to show that

God is good and he is glorious. So that's the

theological framework. I need you to remember

that. Next, come with me to the context of 1

Corinthians. The context of 1 Corinthians. Now,

the church in Corinth that we've been walking

with over this series had its work cut out to

thrive. Because the church in Corinth, you can

imagine they're full of young Christians and

they're thinking to themselves, which Roman customs

do we retain and which Roman customs do we reject?

Which Roman customs are consistent with following

Jesus and which Roman customs are not? And Paul

in this book of 1 Corinthians has challenged

them on some of their customs. He's challenged

them on the Roman custom of picking your favorites

and creating factions. And he said, reject that.

He's challenged them on eating food offered to

idols that could damage the faith of other Christians.

And he says that custom, reject it. And now he's

challenging the customs that they were bringing

into the Lord's Supper. Mark was talking about

that last week. For in Roman times, it would

not be customary for the poor to eat the same

food as the rich or for the nobility to sit at

the same table as slaves. And that was coming

into the Lord's Supper and Paul is challenging

them on those customs. And he does that in chapter

10 last week and chapter 11 next week. And these

divisive social customs that were coming into

the church, Paul's saying, no, we need to challenge

them. But nestled right in between chapter 10

on the Lord's Supper and chapter 11 on the Lord's

Supper, we have our passage. Verses 2 to 16,

nestled right in between. Because Paul wants

to address, as he's talking about the Lord's

Supper, he wants to address another complex custom

that needs to be navigated by this new church.

And it's the custom of this, what are you going

to do about hair? Come with me to our next point,

the context of hair. Hair was a really big deal

in Roman society. It was as if men used their

hair as the equivalent of their social media

profiles, that they would use their hairstyle

to communicate anything from their relationship

status to their political affiliations. That

was the Roman way. A common custom for many married

women was to wear a special veil. Now, married

women wearing a veil mark their status as respectable

married women, much like a person might wear

a wedding ring. However, just as one fashion

becomes the custom, another counter -fashion

rises up in rebellion. And there's one notable

example in the first century where wives all

over the Roman Empire began adopting the dress

code of the haetare. And this is where they would

refuse to wear a veil, and they adopted far more

flamboyant hairstyles and clothes in order to

make themselves a reputation, a name within society.

That was the equivalent of a move that was part

ancient world clickbait to increase your followers.

And for some, this removal of veils... was a

public way to conduct a marital breakdown by

embarrassing your husbands. It was like someone

saying something terrible on social media and

trying to get people to like their comments against

their spouse in order to embarrass their other

half. Such moves actually at the time were discussed

by the philosophers of the age. You can find

writings on it by Seneca. Ovid and Cicero all

talking about this particular fashion statement

of married women going without veils. And much

like today, it had even become a royal scandal

when the Emperor Augustus' niece, Julia, was

tried and convicted for this fashion faux pas

by actually having her head shaved. But men's

hair was no less contentious. In the Roman Empire,

the custom was for men actually to keep their

hair relatively short as a sign of kind of dignity

and control. A short -haired man was the equivalent

of someone who was wearing a shirt and tie to

work. But politicians used their artistic depictions

of their hair to send political messages about

the things that they stood for and how they wanted

to be viewed in their leadership. And at the

time that Paul was writing, which is most likely

a similar time to Emperor Nero, Nero as an emperor

was extravagant, he was loud, he was bold, and

he triggered a whole fashion movement of men's

hair being long and flamboyant in order to command

attention, a little bit like someone going out

in public in order to show their Rolex watch.

Moreover... A new style was often trending in

the empire known as the philosopher locks. You

never thought you would be going through this,

did you, on a Sunday afternoon? Philosopher locks

was a hairstyle to convey a sense of intellectual

superiority with anyone else in the room. It

was in order to kind of take you to be head and

shoulders above the rest. But in combination

with this, there was another hair. accoutrement

that was causing an issue. In pagan worship,

men were covering their heads when they were

trying to forecast to everyone else in the public

gathering that they were the most important worshipper

there. Why? Because the priests in pagan worship

covered their heads. And if you were a guy in

a kind of pagan worship you would cover your

head to show that you're the big dog, that you're

the alpha, that you're the person who really

God wants to listen to. It almost had this connotation

that if you were covering your head as a man,

you were cloaking your humanity so that your

humanity wouldn't distract the gods and so that

they could talk to you more personally. So how

would these hair customs work out in the cocktail

of... the new church in Corinth? Where should

the hair customs be rejected? And where should

the customs be retained? That's the key question.

So let's look at the exegesis of the passage.

Come with me to our passage today. Okay, I'm

going to move quite fast, but hopefully the platform

that we've got will enable us to do that. For

those of you who are like, oh, this is already

pretty heavy. The general summary is this. Where

the custom echoes the picture of Eden, the custom

should be retained. But where the custom breeds

disunity, it should be rejected. That's the headline.

I also need to say, kind of just by note, confusion

warning here. Almost every verse that we're looking

at is highly contentious and very difficult to

translate, which means that your Bible might

say something quite different to the person sat

next to you if they've got a different translation.

Just saying. Okay, let's go. Look at me at verse

3. Verse 3, Paul opens with a description of

Eden relationships. Do you see that? Christ is

the maker of all things and has headship over

Adam. Adam has headship over Eve and God the

Father has headship over God the Son. We saw

this in Eden, didn't we? Just as we looked at,

you've got a picture of Trinitarian unity and

distinction involving one submitting to another.

And Paul's point here is that marital unity should

echo the Trinity in that sense. It should involve

one submitting to another. The language of women

in the original text actually means wife. Some

of you will have that in your translations. That

means that married people are the particular

focus of this passage. Now, having established

the necessity in order to echo Eden, Paul applies

this to the Roman custom, first relating it to

men, then relating it to women. Look with me

at verse 4. Verse 4, men should not cover their

heads because that custom, remember the pagan

priests, would signify that they are the most

important people in the room, which is an insult

to Jesus who is our only and true high priest.

To dishonour his head isn't a physical insult

on his skull, it's referring to a man dishonouring

Christ. Look with me at verse 5. Verse 5 switches

to the custom of married women wearing veils.

And at this point, he's saying, look, if you

can keep that custom, you should. Because it

honours marriage in Roman Corinth. It publicly

declares that Christian marriage is really, really

special because it is uniquely and wonderfully

echoing what God is like. Remember, headship

in marriage echoes the relationship between God

the Father and God the Son. And he's saying,

if you're going to echo that in your marriage,

then why wouldn't you? Because it's such a beautiful

picture. And it's a scandal to do otherwise.

Come with me to verse 6. This is where Paul picks

up the consequence in Roman culture of a woman

not wearing a covering. And his point is this.

He says, look, it's a scandal. It is a dishonor

in Roman culture for a married woman not to wear

a head covering in public gathering. So why would

you want your own marriage to be tainted by that

image? When it's such a beautiful picture for

everyone to see. Verses 7, 8 and 9. Look at me

at verses 7, 8 and 9. We'll look at those as

a block. Paul is summarising his arguments so

far. He's acknowledging that he's saying to men,

don't cover your heads. But then he's turning

to women and he's saying, women, cover your heads.

And he's saying, look, I'm not being hypocritical

here. Because the pattern laid down in Genesis

engages with these two customs in two different

ways. Come with me to verse 10. Look with me

at verse 10. The most persuasive translation

that I've read over the last two weeks is this.

Verse 10 translates as this. For this reason,

a wife should exercise control over her... Meaning,

a Christian woman has freedom to do as she pleases.

That was what was part of the freedom that Paul

was talking about in chapter 10. But he goes

on to say this in verse 10. So please, women

who are married, use your own agency to intentionally

honour your marriage. Through this custom. I

think that's what he's saying. He says, it's

your head. You've got the power. It's your authority.

But please lay that down. In the light of showcasing

how glorious marriage is. Because marriage showcases

what God is like. And then we come to that wondrous

phrase. Because of the angels. I was thinking,

should I just skim over this? Very briefly, right,

this is very, very difficult, and I'm not entirely

sure, to be honest. But I think it's probably

closer to something like this. In chapter 6,

Paul has been saying to the Corinthians, hey,

guys, why are you using your authority to basically

take each other to the law courts and sue each

other? That's just not very fair. It's not very

just. It's not very loving. And he goes, do you

not know that you guys are going to have such

authority that you're even going to be judging

the angels? Therefore, use your authority really

wisely because God has given you great authority

over his creation. And I think there might be

a sense here in verse 10 where he's saying, look,

ladies, you have been given all of this great

authority that God has given you. Bearing in

mind what I said about the fact that you guys

are going to be judging the angels, use your

authority well. Use your authority well. Use

your power for good on that one. Now look with

me at verse 11. Paul is aware that this talk

of male headship over women might, in Roman culture,

sound like he's affirming the horrendous cultural

practice of treating women like they're less

valued, like they're just something on a man's

shoe. And so Paul goes back to the Eden fragrance.

He goes back to the Eden pattern in verse 11

because he wants to reiterate that both men,

both men, let me say it again, both men and women

are image bearers of God. And just as the Father

is equal in status and dignity with the Son,

despite their roles being different in creation

and salvation. Similarly, men and women are equal

in dignity and equally need each other in order

to fulfill their purpose and equally bring God

glory when they both submit to the will of God,

which is why he says, because everything comes

from God. In other words, and I think we need

to hear this. Don't get distracted by male headship

in marriage because everyone and everything submits

to God. I think Paul's saying, look, I'm not

saying that men are more important. I think he's

making that really clear in verses 11 and 12.

Look at me at verses 13 to 15. Paul closes his

argument about the difference. between men and

women, in applying or rejecting the customs of

head covering by appealing to the cultural perceptions

of the differences between the two sexes. And

I need you to notice he's now broadening his

scope, not merely to marry people, but he's talking

to all believers. And he needs to do this. Because

Christianity, and don't miss this, Christianity

was so, so counter -cultural within the Roman

Empire. For in the Roman Empire, there were so

many different places in society where women

were pushed down, where they were segregated

from men, where they were considered to be lesser

and treated as lesser. But Christianity, now

the church has come along, has made women of

equal status. And equal dignity with men and

given women the first time the opportunity to

equally participate in worship with men. It's

right there in verse 5. It's almost, I think,

there's a danger to a young or baby Christian.

You might even think that Christianity has eroded

any difference between men and women. You might

even think that if you're a baby Christian, so

radical is Christianity in the Roman Empire.

And so Paul wants to reiterate, actually, whoa,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There is a natural

distinction between men and women. And in order

to make the case to do that, he appeals to a

Roman cultural idea that women have long hair

and it marks their beauty. And that men typically

in the Roman Empire had short hair as a mark

of their honour. It was a little bit like men

had a kind of short hair buzz cuts for the military

because Rome was a military empire. And that's

how you could quickly tell the difference between

the two sexes in any gathering. In other words,

he's saying, look, for a Roman, the natural expectation

was that a woman would look different to a man.

And therefore, he's saying, church. Don't be

embarrassed about that in the church. Don't be

embarrassed that there are men here and that

there are women here. You don't have to leave

that at the door when you come in. Look with

me at verse 16. Paul's summary of which customs

to retain and which to reject has a default.

And I think it's this. I think this is the summary

default. Pursue unity even at personal expense.

Pursue unity even at personal expense. That's

what this is really all about. Pursue unity even

at personal expense. Let's take the cake out

of the oven and apply it. Some of you may just

be waking up and saying, oh, that was hard work.

Just tell me, do women need to wear head coverings

in church or not? Come on! Famous theologians

you might have heard of, Martin Luther and John

Calvin, commended women for covering their heads

in public assemblies. But both of those theologians

noted that it was really a matter of custom.

The famous writer and theologian Charles Hodge

put the matter in this way. Dress is in great

degree conventional. A costume that is proper

in one country would be indecorous in another.

In other words, you've got to be discerning in

applying this. In other words, let me put it

like this. If wearing a head covering in your

culture signifies the beauty of Christian marriage

and echoes the relational dynamics of the Trinity,

then by all means, wear a hat. But if it doesn't,

then you're free not to. But if the focus is

actually really more on unity than headwear,

and it's really all about the fragrance of Eden

in the Christian community, then I think the

application that we have to work hard at here

at City Church is to discern how do we show sacrificial

love of Jesus... in the specific culture that

we live in today of Manchester 2026? That really

is the hard question of this passage. And to

answer it, sometimes the answer to that question

means you break cultural norms, and at other

times it means you keep them. Let me put it like

this. Do you remember when Jesus meets the Samaritan

woman in John chapter 4? Meets her at a well.

John 4 · chapter mention

And Jesus goes up to this woman and he talks

to her. Now, Samaritans and Jews were enemies

with each other. And it is a total cultural outrage

that Jesus would chat to this woman. In that

moment, Jesus breaks the custom, smashes it to

pieces. If you remember from John 4, he then

talks to this woman and he challenges this woman.

about her attitude towards marriage. Do you remember

that? And he's like, even the man that you are

now with isn't your husband. And he challenges

her on that. Did you see what Jesus is doing

there? He's reinforcing the custom of the day.

He's actually reinforcing the custom of marriage

relationships. Jesus then reveals that he is

God himself. He's revealing the ultimate headship

over this woman. And he offers her the water

of life. That is, he offers her in that moment

the hope of the gospel. But that very same invitation

ultimately requires him, in love, to lay down

his power. And lay down his rights. And sacrificially

die for her on the cross. Say that this woman

who has been abandoned and ostracized by her

society and her community. Could share in the

very glory of God. That is the fragrance of Jesus.

That is the very fragrance of Genesis 1 and 2.

And whatever that fragrance smells like, it does

not smell of, I'm too cowardly to challenge unloving

cultural customs because it will look bad at

me. And it does not smell like I'm too proud

to lay down my power and my rights for the benefit

of others. Whatever it smells like, it does not

smell like either of those things. Now, the fragrance

of Jesus is beautiful and unique, and I think

based on this particular passage, in our community

here at City Church, it smells like three things

that we've got to pay attention to. Number one,

retain customs that promote the beauty of marriage.

We need to be a church where marriage is held

up as a good thing, and where loving, sacrificial

marriages that point to Christ are honoured and

thrive. What might that look like? Well, for

example, I know for some of you who are married,

when we enjoy the custom of talking to people

about how things are going in our life, it's

a custom, isn't it? How you doing? I know some

of us who are married find it difficult to be

honest about what's going on in our marriage.

If we're talking particularly to people who are

single. Because we don't want to make them feel

awkward. Actually, no. No, no, we should be talking

about our marriage where it is appropriate in

those conversations. We need to be people who

talk honestly about our marriage. We need to

be men and women who are married who talk well

of our spouses. We need to be celebrating from

the rooftops when he takes out the rubbish or

when he picks up wet towels from the floor. I'm

sorry, I'm just actually applying this passage

to me. But you get the idea, don't you? You get

the idea. Secondly, the fragrance of Jesus in

our community based on this passage is we must

reject customs that don't promote male humility.

Corinth, the big dogs covered their heads. For

us, it means men, we should not pursue arrogance

of status. You come to church, some of you attempting

to showcase that you're the alpha by what you

wear or who you speak to or what you do. No.

The fragrance of Christ is that you sacrificially

give away your power. You want to be the spiritual

giga -chad, and I learnt what that word means.

then you need to be the last one to leave church

on a Sunday because there's chairs to be stacked

and there's washing up to be done. You get it.

Thirdly, the fragrance of Jesus in our community,

based on this passage, means that we need to

retain customs that promote male and female distinction.

Your friends, when you bring them to City Church

or when they connect with City Church, you should

notice something different about us in the way

that men speak to women and women speak about

men and the way that we're tripping over each

other in order to honour and respect each other.

There should be something different about us

when people come amongst us. You see, let me

give you an example. Our culture has a custom,

doesn't it? A custom in our culture where men...

open doors for women, not because they can't

do it themselves, but because we're simply showing

respect and honour to women. Well, perhaps that

is something that as a church we should become

proficient at. And that's just one example of

many things that we should be figuring out together.

What does it look like to be honouring each other

in this place? But the headline is this. The

world's fragrance is put yourself first. Look

after your own power. Look after your own status.

Look after your own preferences. The fragrance

of Jesus is sacrifice yourself. Love others.

Put the needs of others before yourself. Jesus'

fragrance is better. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,

we come before you knowing that this is a hard

passage, but we do pray that you will have spoken

to us today as we've looked on the Lord Jesus,

the one who sacrificed everything for us, that

we deserve nothing. May we be those who echo

that in the way that we sacrificially love others.

Help us not to be obsessed with ourselves and

our own rights, but may we be men and women who

are saturated in the very fragrance of the Lord

Jesus Christ, a fragrance of love and service

and humility.