No more masks

"... then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13.12

Today marks the removal of the legal requirement to wear masks in church. I trust there will be no irony in the fact that our first experience of the new situation here in Strath & Sleat will be at a funeral on Wednesday... For some this departure comes as a huge relief, for others it might be another reason to avoid church - although measures are being taken to reassure those who remain nervous.

Some have enjoyed the anonymity of face coverings; others the freedom to sing forth without worrying about their facial expression. Yet, as one who has had to look out on a sea of faces swathed in fabric, I am looking forward to seeing real people again!

Mask-wearing can be interpreted as a metaphor for life, in that so many of us so often parade or skulk around wanting to present an image to the world with is at odds with what is going on inside. But God is not fooled. If we adopt the "Adam & Eve" approach (of denial), our sins will surely find us out and we shall be held to account for our deception. Yet "fessing up" in the reassurance that "where we are honest and confess our sins, Jesus will be faithful in his promise to forgive us" liberates us from the need to play that dangerous game.

The habits of a lifetime are hard to change. But sometimes the effort is worth it - especially when our eternal destiny is at stake. And where this is the case, we shall not be left to flounder in our own strength; God will be at work in us through the Holy Spirit, whose power raised Jesus from death to life. So, even if you choose to retain your outward face-covering for the time-being, make today the day you remove the mask inside...