Masks and Marks

+
Ash Wednesday, 2009
Part of a multi-media presentation

What do we hide behind? (Masks and Marks)
(First slide – What masks do we wear?) (to Jennifer Knapp's Faithful to Me)
(On the slides -
This is my real hair color.
Nothing is wrong with . . . . family, child, marriage, job,
My job is my life
Don’t let them see you sweat
You can do it
(second slide – Many, many masks)
I don’t have a problem with . . . drugs, alcohol, pornography, shopping,
I ran into a door
I don’t care about what you think

(third slide – three masks)

(Now this is the sermon)

What masks do we wear?
What mask comes on when we see that person – what masks do we buy?
What face do we put on when we are hurting?
When we are lonely in the midst of the crowd?
What masks come with the job? (remove stole)
What masks help us think we’re better than, more powerful than? (remove robe)
When we think we are being judged? When we are ashamed?

What masks do we wear when life is painful?
What masks do we wear when all seems lost?
What masks do we wear for other people?

I was once part of a group that was asked to participate in a mediation that
Began with the question - what are you hiding from God?
My colleague snarked – come on, He’s God! He already knows!
Be honest.
He’s God. He’s already knows.

Our masks are not for God’s sake. He knows. He knows us through and through.
From the rising of the sun to its setting.
From the ends of the earth, there is no separation from Him.
He knew you in the womb before you were knit together.
He knows you in the depth of pain and shame and anxiety and grief.
He knows you when you are joyful and fearful that this good thing can’t last.

(Fourth slide – two masks)
Our masks are ours alone. We make, we own them, we keep them, we prize them.
They are that which separates us from God and each other.
They are our fears of being truly human and truly God’s

Matthew 5:17-20 – Jesus says: 17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come.
I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets.
No, I came to fulfill them.
18 I assure you, until heaven and earth disappear,
even the smallest detail of God’s law will remain until its purpose is achieved.
19 So if you break the smallest commandment
and teach others to do the same,
you will be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
20 “But I warn you—unless you obey God
better than the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees do,
you can’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all!

And with THAT message – we pretty quickly slam those masks on our faces!
With THAT message – we squirm and we ask – who then can be saved?
Who can be righteous?
Who can be good enough?

(5th Slide – Mask to Cross)
Can we find the right mask to make us look good enough?

The answer is not a mask – at all.
(Click –to change picture to cross)

It is a mark. It’s a fire branded on our foreheads. It’s an symbol, a sign, a letter, a tattoo.
We put it on babies – who don’t understand about faking it.
We put it on the dying – who couldn’t care less.
We put it on each other on this night.

(have ash cross put on my forehead)

The mark comes to us through his DEATH.
Through his Death.
The most honest act ever done.
The most loving answer possible to our dishonesty,
The masks we wear:
our addictions, our pride, our anger, our fears
our hoarding, our neglect – our sin.

This mark is our salvation from our own doing.
This mark is our hope, our only hope.
This mark is the door for our new life.
Life without masks. Life with the Lord. The Kingdom of Heaven.

So let’s be honest with ourselves.
God already knows. The confession isn’t for him.
It’s for us. Put down the masks, and prepare to receive the mark.

Let us kneel. (straight into confession)
+