Masks?

Doug  writes 

I went out wearing a mask for the first time today. It felt very odd. I have always associated them with bank robbers or cowboys. But we must do all we can to avoid spreading the virus. So from next Friday week if we want to shop we must wear a mask.

I decided to wear the mask as I walked past the church and through the town, not only in the shops. The idea was to get used to it, so I wore it for over an hour. I am not yet used to it. But it’s a start, and I hope that everyone will find ways of acting responsibly in a situation which is improving but by no means over.

Jesus observed that the spiritual leaders of his time were putting on a front, doing all they could to appear good to everyone around yet, within, their souls were not in the right place. They obscured what was really going on in their lives by putting on a front. He describes them as white-washed sepulchres, a really critical comment implying that they were death-dealing while only appearing to be clean and wholesome.

The human soul is very prone to self-aggrandisement, our egos wanting to push us to fulfil our own preferences and be jolly well appreciated for it. Our desire to appear good to others and our capacity for self-deception is strong. And of course it is only civilised to keep some of our less worthy thoughts to ourselves. Yet no wonder there are so many mental health problems when we cannot fulfil our needs or they lead us astray. We find it hard to be our true selves and so disguise ourselves when we engage with others.

It is as if we already wear a mask. Am I seeing the true you? Do you see the real me? If we cannot live in society, families, communities as ourselves then we effectively don a mask and obscure our true identity. Even the faithful can feel that they cannot, or must not, bring their true selves to God. Will I be punished and rejected for being part of sinful humanity? No, God loves us and sent his Son to save us from our sins. He really does love us. And we are called to Live God’s Love.

All Saints will open for public worship very soon. Masks will not be obligatory (unless the rules change again!) but they are a very good idea even though we will remain at an appropriate distance from one another in our large, lovely building. If you don’t have your own mask, we have a good stock along with the sanitiser. But they are physical masks. Be ready to remove the personal, spiritual mask of the soul which seeks to obscure and disguise who we truly are. For God does not want pretence but authentic, lively human beings who know their failings but are open to accept God’s forgiveness, love and salvation.