Take It Off*

(*metaphorically)

There is a lot of talk about masks at the moment - which ones are most effective, how to properly wear them, how-to hacks to make your own, and the importance to wearing them every time we leave the house. For some this has been a big personal challenge and a small minority have been quite vocal about it (even refusing to wear them claiming their personal 'rights'). But sadly this should have never have been a big leap for us, as most people are very proficient at wearing 'masks' and many of us have been wearing them most of our lives... perhaps without even realising it.

A beloved, truth-telling friend of mine posted this on his InstaStories last week as the mask saga continued - "Churches should be preaching on"all the masks you already wear to church and are totally fine with." Ouch. But true.

It's true because as humans we want to be accepted and have a strong sense of belonging. This gives us a sense of worth, of security, of comfort. However we don't, for some reason, trust ourselves to be fully 'acceptable'... and so we mask ourselves. No one can deny this truth - that we all put up fronts or wear masks of some sort in the vain hope of protecting ourselves against rejection, or even worse, exposure. We see this throughout our world - when governments do it we call it 'spin', when advertisements do it we call it 'marketing', and when we do it ourselves we call it 'image'. We are all projecting something that we think the world wants to see, what they want us to be. In effect we are saying that we don't really like what we are on the inside, so we pretend to be something different. We want to be perceived in certain ways by others because, simply said, we don’t realise that who we really are is actually what others really desire to see.

However, faking it is an ingrained part of the culture of fallen humanity. There are various reasons why people like to wear a mask. My guess is that fear of rejection is one of the biggest. “If people really knew what I was like then they wouldn’t like me!” Many of us fear really being "seen" for all of our failings, shortcomings, and supposed imperfections. So from a young age we learn that it is much easier to protect ourselves by masking up, by pulling on impenetrable armour that we wear like skin.

Unfortunately, though, living with a mask eventually becomes habitual. We don't even realise we are doing it. Some of us go our entire lives never identifying the various masks that we wear, mindlessly shielding our true selves in an attempt to feel loved and to be accepted. And by doing this, we completely miss the possibility of uncovering what in theological language is called the “Imago Dei” – the image of God in which we were made. As Genesis notes, humans are made in the image and likeness of God. We all carry within us the divine image that begs to be revealed to a hurting world. Unfortunately, our own hurt often denies the existence of our divine image because we think it is easier to survive this life in the ways we are used to, limiting though they are.

Mask wearing is as old as creation. The first human beings thought it was necessary to cover up. After Adam and Eve rebelled, they proceeded to make garments out of fig leaves to hide their nakedness, to hide their SHAME. This is the part that I find most heartbreaking - that at the heart of it we feel shame in who we are, ashamed to reveal our true selves to those around us. Just take a look at our lives and see how easy to hide behind masked coverings - lonely people hide behind smiles and high-fives; exhausted mothers hide behind makeup and pinterest-worthy photos; insecure people hide behind hilarious jokes and exaggerated anecdotes; fragile people hide behind success and competencies; broken relationships hide behind silence and secrecy. And yet all of these things - loneliness, exhaustion, insecurity, fragility, brokenness - are just as worthy, just as valid, just as worthy of love.

I have recently been attempting to memorise the chapter of Romans 12 (an anthem for the Christian life) during Lockdown 2.0 my eyes were drawn to this short, seemingly insignificant line over and over again...

"love must be sincere" (v.9)

After some book-worm investigation, I found out that the Greek word for 'sincere' means 'without hypocrisy' or literally 'without play acting' or 'without a mask'. In the context of the chapter, Paul is telling us that as we live and serve and love those around us, we must do it sincerely. Which means not living with a masked identity that somehow elevates ourselves over those around us, hiding our true selves from our friends and family. But with humility, we are called to honour those around us by truly showing up: unapologetically unmasked. By doing this, we can enter into a completely new depth and authenticity in our relationships. Instead of trying to impress people with our masks, we reveal who we truly are with all of our flaws and we connect through our vulnerabilities.

The life of Jesus testifies to this. He met with thousands of people during his years of ministry and we are privileged enough to have some of those intimate encounters recorded for us in the bible; the moments when Jesus names masks he sees and restores people to their true identity.

We see him unveiling women soaked with shame,

We see him looking past physical infirmities and meeting the heart of the person,

We see him tearing off the masks of hypocrisy within the religious leaders,

We see him coming face to face with denial and still offering grace. Grace invites us to be real and honest. Grace allows you to live free of false hope and the faux identity of human fakery once and for all, and to rest in the honest and stable identity you have in being an image bearer of the Divine. Jesus came into the world, into the mess, to bring people to himself just as they are and to help them unveil themselves to see their true created identity. The first step of doing this, however, is allowing him to help us gently remove the masks that we wear. It might feel terrifying. It might feel like 'nakedness'. It might feel like a re-birth. But it is necessary and freeing and exactly what this world needs - humans living in their true identity skin.

So please take your 'mask' off when you are ready, and you may well experience...

Face to face truth

Heart to heart connection

Brokenness to brokenness wholeness

Grace to grace acceptance.

That sounds pretty life-giving to me!

“The greatest battle we face as human beings is the battle to protect our true selves from the self the world wants us to become.” E. E. Cummings