I saw no clown costumes this Halloween. Did you? It’s rough to be clowns these days, with news of red-wigged thugs in masks terrorizing citizens in several communities.
Ronald McDonald is silent too. Rodeo clowns and circus clowns are figuring out how to do their acts without frightening families. I wager birthday party clowns are working more day jobs. Too bad a few rotten bozos are spoiling the barrel of fun.
The clown scare began just before Halloween, All Saints’ Day, and the November election. The season started me thinking about the masks we wear around others and even the way we perceive ourselves when we peer into the mirror.
Are You Wearing Masks?
I ask you gentle readers, “How many masks do we use to hide the true self? Why aren’t we more transparent, authentic, and vulnerable?” Sometimes, when I try to be genuine, I come away from an encounter and think, “Who was that person? That is not really who I am. Help me, Jesus!”
Do You Really Know Them?
How we evaluate our neighbors and friends can be a bit askew too, because at best we experience only a small percentage of who they really are. If you are married or have a close BFF, you know you will never know ALL of that other person.
A friend of mine recently went to a leadership conference where she was given a list of 20 personality hurdles that hinder leaders. In a break out session, each attendee chose three and then picked the Number One problem to tackle.
My friend confessed, “My Number One was fear of embarrassment, but I was too embarrassed to choose that problem to work on.” We laughed a little, and she said she is determined not to allow embarrassment to hold her back. Acknowledging the truth begins the change.
Popeye Theology
It’s a long process to becoming authentic. It’s a work in humility, and many of us simply give up. Like Popeye, we say: “I am what I am, and that’s all that I am….” (If you have ever watched Popeye in action, you know he is a tad dysfunctional.)
Perhaps giving up on changing ourselves is at least one reason why some adults, as well as children, find dressing up on Halloween so enjoyable. For one night we can be someone else, out in the darkness with other masked people, saying “Trick or Treat” and getting candy.
C.S. Lewis Called It
C.S. Lewis’s last novel Till We Have Faces is not an easy read—I’ve tried and much prefer the Narnia world. Faces is about Greek mythology and the characters Cupid and Psyche. I can’t get into the plot here, but it is interesting Lewis desired his book to be titled “Bareface.” His editor nixed that headliner, pointing out Bareface sounded too much like a Western. According to Wikipedia, Lewis wrote to Dorothea Conybeare that he still preferred Bareface, explaining the idea that a human “must be speaking with its own voice (not one of its borrowed voices), expressing its actual desires (not what it imagines that it desires), being for good or ill itself, not any mask.”
I really wonder if we can be authentic with our inner selves and with other people? Do we know our deepest desires? There are some hopeful signs, like when we reunite with family or friends, who we haven’t seen for years, and then we pick up joyfully right where we left off. Our true selves bask in their acceptance and love.
Sometimes, if we are intentional about it, we are different when we think and listen without distractions (like TV, computer, cell phone, etc). Then, there are hopeful Bible promises like: “If anyone is in Jesus, he or she is a new creation. The old is gone; the new has come” (from 2 Corinthians 5:17).
Authenticity Meter: Send in the Clowns
Still, we probably will not know how well we are doing with the authenticity meter until we lose our faces–all our masks, make-up, and plastic surgery. It all starts going at death. Then there will be more remaking under the shining light of the One who makes all things new and knows us very well.
This is a little troubling, because I wonder what will be left when the masks are removed. Biblical Job declares “and after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God….” Oddly, I also find this future rendezvous a relief. Someday, I will know myself very well under a banner of love and mercy. From that perspective, I, and others, will be rejoicing at what we fully know and what we fully see. The masks will be gone. We will have authentic faces!
Meanwhile, I must do my part to be an authentic clown for Christ, day by day.
