Masks

I have spoken to many people recently who find themselves struggling with really understanding their reactions, emotions, frustrations and fears. I wonder if this bewildered state of being has been caused by the fact that we are having to spend a lot of time with ourselves.  We have been forced to hang with all the "stuff" that we tend to carry around.  And, when we can't be as busy as normal, and we are in the midst of a great loss of control, it is like God is holding up a mirror to the person we can usually hide or cover up with the busy-ness and productivity of our lives.  

Ironically we are wearing very visible masks in public these days, but long before this I think most of us wore the invisible kind really well.  I have thought a lot recently about these masks, and just why so many of us are walking around living less than authentically, maybe even a bit afraid to live into the person that we have been created to be.  We learn in our youngest days some really false teachings about success, beauty, popularity, and strength.  Girls recognize early on what they "should" look like, and boys are often taught that being emotional is a no go, for a strong man.  And as we age these masks are layered as we learn to cope by keeping our true selves hidden and safe.  

This past fall right in the midst of the loss of one of the saints of our church, a bunch of us got really sick.  I was visiting at the hospital when it hit me, but one by one like dominoes it seemed to take us all down.  We all lost a lot of weight that week, and it really made me think about how fundamentally we humans are really all the same.  That's one of the lessons this virus has taught us too, that no matter who we are, how much money we make, or what we think we must accomplish...we all have these bodies that humble us and connect us, because we aren't as invincible as we might think we are.  I suppose aging and illness are truly the great levelers. So I wonder why we spend so much of our lives trying to fit into molds that someone else has designed. 

My forever favorite Psalm 139 speaks to the truth that God has created us intentionally, for a purpose, and that beyond our ability to comprehend we are known, loved and understood by our Creator.  

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

    you discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down,

    and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

    O Lord, you know it completely.

You hem me in, behind and before,

    and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

    it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit?

    Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning

    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

    and your right hand shall hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

    and the light around me become night,”

even the darkness is not dark to you;

    the night is as bright as the day,

    for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

    Wonderful are your works;

that I know very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.

In your book were written

    all the days that were formed for me,

    when none of them as yet existed.

What would the world look like if we took off our own masks, and truly offered people the grace to live authentically?  What if our expectations of one another were rooted in the understanding that we are all doing the best we can, with what we have?  I wonder how different our world might become.  Before we can even take those steps, though, I think we must realize that throughout all of our days we have a God that knows us, inside and out.  God already knows who we are, and loves us the most.  

One of my favorite Christian folk artists is JJ Heller, and a few weeks ago just as this was beginning she recorded a new song that sums all of this up pretty well.
It is called You Already Know, and you can listen to it by clicking here: You Already Know.

God does know, and I hope that brings comfort to you.  It sure does to me.  That even when I'm not sure which end is up, God is already there helping me figure it out.  I am so hopeful that as this all slowly moves into a new phase we won't just go back to putting on the masks we've worn for way too long, but that we will embrace this time as a transition into a new way of being the Body of Christ, authentic and strongest together.  

Have a good night everyone.
Pastor Devon