Ancient Greek theatre actors used masks to put a face on the character that they were revealing to their audiences...a character whose role provided entertainment for the masses. Those masks revealed the murderer, the comedian, the joker, the tyrant, the victim, or the lover etc. When the evening's entertainment ended the actors removed their masks to receive the applause of their audience..eagerly waiting to gaze upon the real man, or woman concealed behind the mask that had assisted them project the character of another person.
Winston Churchill had a well established reputation for ignoring protocol, exposing all to the world when absorbed by affairs of state forgetting his nakedness amusing those around him surprised by Churchill's down to earthness:
"He used to talk to visitors while he was in bed and in the bath sometimes quite important people," Mr Blick said. During a Christmas visit by Churchill to the United States in 1941, President Franklin D Roosevelt called on Churchill in his White House quarters and found him naked after his bath, pacing about the room giving dictation. The President made to leave, but Churchill stopped him with the line: "You see, Mr President, I have nothing to hide from you."
It was a diplomatic coup. FDR's secretary, Grace Tully, spoke of the President later "chuckling like a small boy" over the sight of Churchill "pink and white all over".
The parable of the tax collector, and the Pharisee reminds me that each of us stands naked before God knowing, that we can hide nothing from the divine mystery.
Our nakedness is our choice to be honest, exposing our all...unmasking to reveal our true self....
The tax collector knew himself to be guilty, and made no pretence, no excuses for his flawed behaviour whereas, the Pharisee tells God that he does all the right things...that he is better than other men....
Our acts of humility...acknowledge our humanity...our shortcomings...our easy willingness to err...to make mistakes.
Most of us, if not all of us once stood in the same position as the Pharisee....eventually learning that life teaches us to come to terms with our well concealed imperfections....by unmasking, and letting the world see us as we truly are.
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Winston Churchill had a well established reputation for ignoring protocol, exposing all to the world when absorbed by affairs of state forgetting his nakedness amusing those around him surprised by Churchill's down to earthness:
Quote:
"He used to talk to visitors while he was in bed and in the bath sometimes quite important people," Mr Blick said. During a Christmas visit by Churchill to the United States in 1941, President Franklin D Roosevelt called on Churchill in his White House quarters and found him naked after his bath, pacing about the room giving dictation. The President made to leave, but Churchill stopped him with the line: "You see, Mr President, I have nothing to hide from you."
The parable of the tax collector, and the Pharisee reminds me that each of us stands naked before God knowing, that we can hide nothing from the divine mystery.
Our nakedness is our choice to be honest, exposing our all...unmasking to reveal our true self....
The tax collector knew himself to be guilty, and made no pretence, no excuses for his flawed behaviour whereas, the Pharisee tells God that he does all the right things...that he is better than other men....
Our acts of humility...acknowledge our humanity...our shortcomings...our easy willingness to err...to make mistakes.
Most of us, if not all of us once stood in the same position as the Pharisee....eventually learning that life teaches us to come to terms with our well concealed imperfections....by unmasking, and letting the world see us as we truly are.
end