Masks are on my mind. The masks we wear to protect and love our neighbors in the midst of a pandemic. The masks that my children are looking to purchase for Halloween costumes. The masks that we often find ourselves wearing as we try to make sure we \u201ckeep it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Masks serve a purpose whether it be protection from aerosols, the \u201cticket\u201d to get candy at the neighbor\u2019s house, or a tool to help us \u201csave face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, no one can wear a mask 24-7. Many of us know the relief we feel when we get in our vehicle, our dorm room, or our home and can finally take the mask off. My kids often don\u2019t last all of trick-or-treating with their masks on. The masks we wear to try to prove to ourselves and the world that we \u201chave it all together\u201d can become a heavy weight to bear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of my favorite stories in scripture comes from John chapter 4.<\/a> In this story Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at the town\u2019s well. There are many reasons this was an unusual encounter; to start, it was strange for a man to be engaging a woman, especially a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman. Noon would not be the typical time a person would go to the well to draw water. Jesus reveals that he sees and knows this woman\u2019s story, that she has no husband and in fact has had five husbands and the man she is living with now is not her husband. When I was an adolescent, this woman was often portrayed to me as \u201cloose,\u201d a \u201cslut,\u201d and \u201cunclean\u201d and that Jesus was making her repent of her sinful behavior. Yet, there is more to this story. In those days a woman would not have been able to leave a husband. For her to have had five husbands meant that they would have either had to die or divorce her because of something like infertility. The shame she carries may come from others looking at her with pity or because society sees no value for her. Yet Jesus sees her. He asks her for water. Jesus offers her living water. At the end of the exchange she leaves her water jug and goes into the community, proclaiming that she has met the Messiah, and many came to believe in Jesus because of her testimony. The power of being seen and known helps you to believe that you are loved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, the power of being fully seen is often lost in our communities of faith. The pressures we feel to \u201chave it all together\u201d often follows us into our church buildings, Bible studies, and small groups. We make sure we are dressed in our \u201cSunday best,\u201d have the correct \u201cSunday school answer,\u201d and try to wear a mask so no one will question our faith. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The funny thing is that faith is not the absence of questions or doubt, but faith is the courage to be authentic \u2014 doubts and all \u2014 and to trust that God is present in that space. Our prayer at the Chapel is that you might find a place that you can come and be fully seen and known. That in the midst of pressures, doubts, and stress that it may be a place of sanctuary where you can meet Christ, be filled, and share that love with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dcs. Kristin<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oct. 21, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pastor Jim<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Deaconess Kristin<\/a>\u00a0take turns writing weekly devotions for the Chapel of the Resurrection.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Blessing Called Sanctuary<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n You hardly knew<\/p>\n\n\n\n how hungry you were<\/p>\n\n\n\n to be gathered in,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to receive the welcome<\/p>\n\n\n\n that invited you to enter<\/p>\n\n\n\n entirely\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n nothing of you<\/p>\n\n\n\n found foreign or strange,<\/p>\n\n\n\n nothing of your life<\/p>\n\n\n\n that you were asked<\/p>\n\n\n\n to leave behind<\/p>\n\n\n\n or to carry in silence<\/p>\n\n\n\n or in shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tentative steps<\/p>\n\n\n\n became settling in,<\/p>\n\n\n\n leaning into the blessing<\/p>\n\n\n\n that enfolded you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n taking your place<\/p>\n\n\n\n in the circle<\/p>\n\n\n\n that stunned you<\/p>\n\n\n\n with its unimagined grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You began to breathe again,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to move without fear,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to speak with abandon<\/p>\n\n\n\n the words you carried<\/p>\n\n\n\n in your bones,<\/p>\n\n\n\n that echoed in your being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You learned to sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the deal with this blessing<\/p>\n\n\n\n is that it will not leave you alone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n will not let you linger<\/p>\n\n\n\n in safety,<\/p>\n\n\n\n in stasis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The time will come<\/p>\n\n\n\n when this blessing<\/p>\n\n\n\n will ask you to leave,<\/p>\n\n\n\n not because it has tired of you<\/p>\n\n\n\n but because it desires for you<\/p>\n\n\n\n to become the sanctuary<\/p>\n\n\n\n that you have found\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n to speak your word<\/p>\n\n\n\n into the world,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to tell what you have heard<\/p>\n\n\n\n with your own ears,<\/p>\n\n\n\n seen with your own eyes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n known in your own heart:<\/p>\n\n\n\n that you are beloved,<\/p>\n\n\n\n precious child of God,<\/p>\n\n\n\n beautiful to behold,<\/p>\n\n\n\n and you are welcome<\/p>\n\n\n\n and more than welcome<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n