The Sucker Hat

In yesterday's MacBreak Weekly, Leo Laporte talked about the concept of a sucker hat. Here's how it works.

Leo and his wife went to a beach in Mexico. Vendors try to sell you their wares. Leo's wife bought a nice cheap hat from one of the vendors. Leo told her, "You just bought the sucker hat!" That hat was a cue to all the other vendors that she was a sucker and would probably buy their junk too.

I'm pretty sure that sucker hats exist in the ministry.

• If you're a pastor and dress up like a Transformer, you're wearing a sucker hat.
• If you move from fad to fad, driven by the latest trends in ministry, you're wearing a sucker hat.
• If your frame of reference is what's happened in the last ten years, and you have little knowledge of two thousand years of church history and theology, you're probably wearing a sucker hat.
• If the Word and prayer are being squeezed out in your life and ministry, you're wearing a sucker hat.

I've worn a sucker hat more than once in my life. Sucker hats always look like a good, cheap buy at first glance, but they also make you a target for other hucksters selling stuff you can't afford to buy.

Comments

[Katrina, Sunday School Craft Blogger]

Okay, so I've never heard of a sucker hat before, but I'm so glad that you've taken the time to explain the concept. It makes perfect sense to me! And your various examples of sucker hats being worn in ministry had me laughing hysterically—not because I personally related, but because I've seen so many ministers that fit these examples to a T.