Conversation Point

Rubber Masks 50% Off

How many trick or treaters do you expect at your house tonight? By the number of candy sales and costume displays out there, I would anticipate a lot if I were you. Halloween appears to be increasing in popularity and with that popularity comes more opportunity to eat untold amounts of miniature candies and play dress up for one wonderful night, no matter how old you are or what diet/exercise program you subscribe to. Halloween suspends our logic and opens our imaginations. Who would you like to pretend to be? What personality would you like to try on for size? There are, even for adults, the classic king and queen ensembles, tigers and bears, and nurse or police uniforms, for those who also want a new job without the fuss of training for the actual work. There are always historical figures and fictional heroes like Wonder Woman and Spider Man to consider too. So many choices and a decision must be made before all the good stuff sells out.

To that end, many retailers started marking down their Halloween goodies several weeks ago. Apparently mask sales were down this year because they were receiving a helpful boost out the door last week. Fifty percent off original price seemed like a pretty good deal if you were in need of such things. A mask surely is a quick, easy addition to any costume to make your disguise more identifiable, more fun, more playful.

Unfortunately, masks are also really uncomfortable to wear, especially rubber ones. Hot, sweaty and smelly, they are also hard to see out of. And you can forget about chowing down on candy or party food while wearing a mask. Simply not possible. Thankfully, Halloween masks are a once-a-year situational problem. When we get tired of bothering with them, we can peel them off, toss them in storage and really mark them down for next spring's garage sale.

But there are those other masks we create all on our own, false faces we put on each morning and wear every day, hoping to pretend well enough to fool even those closest to us. They usually aren't visible, but sometimes people use special props to keep these emotional and attitudinal masks in place. A certain way of smiling, a set of gestures, a specific voice can be very useful for keeping a protective mask in place, while our true selves are kept safe behind them.

Each of us play a number of roles through our lives, daughter/son, spouse, student, employee/employer, leader/follower. Unlike an annual dress-up day, these roles are real and sometimes come with expectations we inadvertently take on and push ourselves to fulfill, even though they have nothing to do with us. Tough stuff, this living in the real world, but here we are, hopefully aiming to do our best and make a difference along the way.

One of the reasons Jesus is such a compelling historical figure, beyond his importance to the Christian community as our Savior and Redeemer, is that Jesus did not pretend to be anything other than who he was. What you saw is what you got. He wore no masks to fit in with the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the tax collectors, prostitutes, tradespeople, his own relatives, or anyone else. That lack of facade on his part didn't stop people from placing their expectations on him, and neither did his straightforwardness stop him from being blamed for issues and problems that existed in people's lives and social institutions long before he began his public ministry. Many people wanted him to be the Messiah that would win a war against all the enemies of the Jewish people and welcome a new Kingdom of God on earth. They were not all happy when Jesus told them the Kingdom of God was already among them. The Sadducees and the Pharisees wanted to blame Jesus for stirring up the people whom they sought to continue to control. Every time they attempted to corner him, humiliate him in front of his followers, Jesus answered them directly and honestly, and as one with authority. No tricks, no treats, no masks to hide behind. Jesus ended up being crucified, in no small part because he refused to be something or someone other than who he was.

We are not called to follow a set of expectations other people may have for us or that we have for ourselves. But the more we live wearing these false selves, the harder it becomes to see who we really were created to be and the harder it becomes to nurture our true selves. Being hot, sweaty and smelly under the mask becomes so familiar we don't remember what it feels like to breathe deeply of God's Spirit and enjoy the riches of God's grace. We are not called to meet our own or other people's expectations. We are called to believe in God, to serve God and each other as our authentic, genuine selves.

Pretending to be someone else once a year can be fun. Being who God calls us to be the rest of the year feels pretty good too.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 3:11 PM