THE GREAT MASQUERADE BALL

Welcome all Chewers of the Cud to the Great Masquerade Ball. How's the MASK fitting...or would that be masks plural. It's kind of like the analogy of hats. We all wear many hats... depending on the job that we are doing at the moment. For a woman...the hat may be that of the kind and nurturing mother...and then she puts on the hard working (in the home or at the public workplace) provider...and then she puts on the sensual lover of her husband...and then puts on the hat of an accountant as she budgets the household finances. We all enter and leave various rolls that we live out with great ease and dexterity...depending on the need of the moment. This is a natural, normal thing... and for the most part...it is a good thing.

But the MASQUERADE is a different story...especially when the MASK is used as a defense mechanism...as a barrier...as a tool of deception.

MASQUERADE: (1) a ball or party at which masks and fancy costumes or disquises are worn (2) a costume for such a ball or party (3)a disguise, false show, or pretense. (4) living under FALSE PRETENSES.

MASK: (1) a covering for the face or part of the face, to conceal or disguise the identity
(2) anything that conceals or disquises (3) a party, carnival, etc where masks are worn; masquerade (4) a person wearing a mask; masker (5) a likeness of a person's face, or face and neck
(6) a protective covering for the face or head as a wire screen or respirator (7) a coving for the mouth or nose to prevent infection of other people by exhaled matter (8) something serving to conceal artillery, military operations, etc. from observation; piece of camaflouge (9) to conceal or disguise.

This thing called the mask can be a positive or a negative. It can be used for protection for someone who is fencing and does not wish the tip of the foil to do damage to the face...or used in times of gaity and parties...especially when it comes time to unmask and see who's who...or protection against germs for the patient and the caregiver...or to keep military operations covert to surprise the enemy for a hopeful victory. The figurative mask can be used as a buffer to hurt as you go through variouis heartaches in life...until you can rise up again to face the world unmasked. Hey...the Lone Ranger...various superheroes...the Green Hornet....etc. wear masks to protect their identity from the evil doers. These are all positive uses of this thing called the mask. As Jim Croce says..."you don't tug on Superman's cape...you don't spit into the wind...you don't pull the MASK off the old Lone Ranger...and you don't mess around with Jim."

The negative comes when the mask is used to disguise hurt...to ward off intimacy with humankind... to hold in emotions that eat at your inside like a cancer. A mask can decrease vision..and like the Bruce Cockburn song, Night Train, says, "...in absence of vision there are nightmares...in absence of compassion there is cancer."

In the Jim Carrey movie THE MASK: FROM ZERO TO HERO...an average Joe...stumbles upon a MASK...and when he innocently puts it close to his face...it attaches to him...and transforms him into what initially appears to be a good thing. But it eventually turns into something out of control...and the more he uses the mask...it becomes more addicting...as he leaves behind who he is...a nice guy...into something obnoxious. SOMEBODY STOP ME!!! The T.V. show...CSI's theme song is THE WHO'S song...WHO ARE YOU?. The premise of the show is to put together clues to solve the crime...and part of that is to figure out who the victim is...and who the criminal is. The only way that I found out who I am...was to find out who He is.

The question is...WHO ARE YOU...and more importantly...WHO IS JESUS. In the theater... the masks represents comedy and tragedy. In know that before I was a Christian...a follower of Jesus...I wore many masks. I would hide behind the mask of humor...to make people laugh so they would not see my hurt, my fears, my frustrations, my anger, my confusion. I would hide behind a mask of anger to keep people at a safe distance so they would not see who I really am. I would hide behind the mask of music and take on the personification of whoever I was listening to on my stereo or radio...so I would not have to live out my own personality that I so miserably deplored.

In 1970...I had the mask ripped off when I came face to face with my sin...and admitted that's who I was a sinner...and my need for a Saviour. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh it felt so good to not having that mask on...with the ability to see things clearer...and to breath more easily. I was able to go from being a sinner (Romans 3:10)...to being the righteousness of God IN CHRIST (II Corinthians 5:21). I went from my OLD creation (formed and shaped by years of fears and frustrations)...to a NEW creation (shaped by who He says I am)...and who I am constantly becoming. (II Corinthians 5:17).

Over a period of time...the mask returned...but in a different form. Now it was a religious mask...where I began to hid from my brothers and sisters in the Lord...I began to wear a mask to conform to what other people thought a Christian ought to be. I began to wear the mask of a hypocrite...as I walked in the flesh....and not in the spirit...and began to wear the mask of a saint in public and wore the mask of hell in the private. I found out that I was just as miserable with the religious personification as I was in my B.C period (Before Christ).

SOLUTION FOR MASKITIS(inflammation of my condition wearing the mask)

In the Ruminator Sunday School Class (meeting every Sunday at Smyrna Assemblies 9:00)...we are studying the FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. This is a study of KNOWING. The word KNOW is mention 39 times...you kind of get the idea that God wants you to know something. One of the things that he wants you to know is WHO YOU ARE...UNMASKED. We see in chapter one...that GOD IS LIGHT... in Him there is NO DARKNESS (mask)...and that we are to walk in the LIGHT (be unmasked) as He is in the light. When we are in the light...who we are is revealed. There is no coverup. We see all the wrinkles, warts, freckles, cracks, creases, crevices, dry skin, gray hair, etc. We see Jesus unmasked with NO SIN. We see us with SIN. As we are unmasked...we either CONFESS...say the same thing that God says about (1) the sin (2) the solution to the sin. We not only are unmasked...we not only come into agreement with God about that sin...but we then apply the solution to that sin.

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness (continue to wear the mask in denial)...we lie and do not practice the truth...BUT if we WALK IN THE LIGHT (unmasked) as He Himself walks in the light...His Son CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN. If we say that we have no sin....the truth is not in us. IF (our choice) we CONFESS (come in to agreement with God) our SINS (the mask)...He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and the cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness." (I John 1:6-9)

Well...that's about it for now. I've got to go look into a mirror and see what mask I am presently wearing...and RIP IT OFF.

Love and Unmasked Kisses
Rod "Who Was That Masked Man" Boyd