Yikes

"But not a hair of your head will perish." Luke 21.18

A friend dreamed up a trio of adventures, which he dubbed 'Al's Grand MacNab', in order to raise funds for the refugee projects we support through our church twinning in Jordan. I set a target of £1000 and rashly promised that, if I reached it by Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day), I would shave my head. That milestone was surpassed yesterday, so within a week I shall be bald. Using an app which allows one to play around with facial features, my daughter showed me what I shall look like. In a word: ridiculous. But it did convince me that my eyebrows will have to come off too.

The Bible has a surprising amount to say about hair. On his way to his final showdown in Jerusalem, Jesus was anointed with oil by Mary and she wiped his feet with her hair. Hair was reputedly the secret of Samson's legendary strength and those who took the Nazirite vow, of dedication to God, also abstained from hair-cutting - including John the Baptist. David's son, Absolom, was famously hirsute but it proved to be his undoing. Yet the prophet Elisha was mocked for his lack of the stuff.

Apparently baldness in men is a sign of virility. I'm not sure if it counts if you engineer it. So I shall take comfort in the verse at the head of this piece and trust that, come Easter, all will be as it should...