Mark's Midweek Musings

"Masks"

Wed May 27, 2020

Time keeps moving along ... so much of the same ... and yet some things that aren't the same. This week I officiated at my first "zoom" funeral for Marie Collyer which was quite emotional and moving despite the reality that we couldn't gather in the church. And in the world around us, things are opening up a little and sometimes I think a bit too fast. People are sadly becoming non compliant with the personal isolation which might well lead to new and increased cases. The gardens are planted with annuals, the perennials are coming shooting up with new sprouts of life, the temperature is warmer, and the reality of Covid 19 and all of its ramifications remain all too real for us. We're all find our best way to cope.

As well, I am looking forward with great excitement to this Sunday's Pentecost online liturgy. Working in partnership with Rev. Karen Coxwell from Trinity United is a joy and delight. There will be many dimensions to the worship experience which although it means some extra work and time is very rewarding and uplifting for me. I'm looking forward to inviting you into this worship experience when we truly celebrate the gift and promise of the Holy Spirit and what that means for us during such a time as this. Watch for the link to be sent out on Saturday.

Dear friends in Christ,

You are warmly invited to attend an online celebration of Pentecost which is being offered in joy and love from every corner of our vast ecclesiastical province – from Moosonee and Algoma in the north and west, to Ottawa and Ontario in the east and Toronto, Huron and Niagara in the south.

In word and song, in prayers, music and images we will catch sight and sound of the Spirit’s flame and work in our midst, binding us together in love.

The celebration will be premiered here on our website and shared on your diocesan websites and social media channels too.

May this act of worship be a visible sign of our unity, and until then may the peace of God which passes all understanding hold you gently during this time of pandemic.

The Most Reverend Anne Germond
Metropolitan of Ontario

During these days of Covid 19, masks have become a necessary addition to our apparel as we venture into spaces where it is difficult to be appropriately distanced. People with the skill have been making masks and sharing them with friends and neighbors. Sadly, there has been a time when masks were in short supply for those in our health care system. As such, their health was sometimes potentially compromised. Masks in this instance are being used for protection and to minimize the transmission of germs that could cause the spread of Covid 19. 

I was thinking, though, that even before Covid 19, many people wore a different kind of mask which in many cases wasn't healthy or helpful. We wear emotional masks that can distance us from others, even those closest to us; we wear spiritual masks which might well distance us from God. The masks we wear are a way of protecting ourselves from harm or disappointment. And yet, whether we are talking about our relationships with other people, or our relationship with God, those emotional and spiritual masks might well do anything but protect us. In fact, they may well add to our stress and impair the relationships in question.

Our calling is to be authentic in the lives we live and in how we relate with each other, and those closest to us. If we are being authentic and thereby honest and genuine, then there is no need for those masks that can easily become a part of our human experience in our relationships with each other, and in our relationship with God.

While we are physically protecting ourselves out of necessity, especially during such a time as this, we need to remove the other masks which aren't helpful and which may well cause us additional stress and anxiety. And that's especially true in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. 

The truth is God sees through any mask that we put on. However, what God desires is for us to be intentionally our authentic selves and to come before Him genuinely as we are in a given moment, whatever we may be feeling or experiencing. God desires that we would take off any spiritual mask we have put on and to simply let ourselves be loved and cared for.

I think one of the spiritual masks we're guilty of putting on comes out of feeling unworthy of what God can and wants to do for us. It's a natural trap to fall into that state of thinking we don't deserve the abundance of blessings God desires to offer us. 

There's no doubt that we need to always be humble before God, and to approach God not out of our own feeling of entitlement. However, we need to also always be ready to be receptive of the gift God has for us in a given moment. And that gift becomes all the more clear when we remove any mask that prevents us from engaging with the gift to the fullest.

So, maybe ask yourself what masks you have put on that perhaps you need to remove. And then pray for the courage and grace to remove the mask and be authentic and genuine in all relationships, but especially in your relationship with God. The truth is we would all be healthier and more content if we were to do just that. And that is God's greatest desire.