UnMasked

Halloween is upon us again! The annual festivity of fun, frivolity, and unrealistically-small candies.

I’ve shared in the past my thoughts on the history of the celebration; from the celebration of a successful harvest to nourish a cold winter, to the tradition of sharing food with everyone who asks (while ‘costumes’ preserved their dignity in asking).

And I’ve been thinking about costumes this year. (My recent unpacking of the ‘Halloween box’ has helped with this!)

At Halloween, we dress up to be something we aren’t. We cover our bodies and faces with a semblance of something else. Some of these may be aspirational (ballerina or astronaut); some are comically unrealistic (teddy bear or alien), some are fun (clown or witch). When we don that Halloween mask, we know we are representing something else – something ‘other’ than who we are.
Yet so often, we were a different mask in real life. People can put on a socially accepted affectation: smiling through depression, for example, or sharing angry outbursts to cover insecurity. We know people who have put on a face they think others are expecting or will most easily receive/accept; we know we have at times been those people.

For those of us with faith, we know we do not need a mask; for we know that God sees us for who we are. Whatever is happening, God sees our true selves. We can wear a mask for others to see; we can wear a mask when it’s too difficult to see ourselves in the mirror.

But God sees us. Perfectly, authentically, lovingly. God sees us unmasked.
This can be uncomfortable for us at times, as we are accustomed to keeping certain aspects hidden. Yet as we mature spiritually, there can be great comfort in being so perfectly seen – for it means that we are perfectly known.

“I have searched you out and I know you,” says the God who loved us into being; the God who loves us throughout our days, who will love us into eternity. God is still searching for us, that we can see ourselves and love ourselves unmasked; that we may create community where others know themselves to be welcomed and celebrated as they too unmask.

It’s not easy to be unmasked in this world, but it is worth it. So while we have fun with Halloween costuming of characters and critters, let us do our best to become comfortable – and comforting – to the everyday process of unmasking ourselves before God.