People are a wonder...

People are a wonder... I’ve been reading one of my Christmas books, Animals in Transition- Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior by Temple Grandin. This woman, who has her PhD, is a college professor and an expert in animal science. She has opened new windows and doors to her world that help me understand not only my grandson Mason but myself as well. We are all animals with more in common than we realize. Her sharing of the autistic way of being reminds me of the gifts of differences, unique beings with commonalities as well as specialities. The science of understanding ourselves and the creatures with whom we share this world is fascinating. Every time we think we have a label that fits a person, here comes something that erases the writing on the name tag and we have to start over.
It is so very easy to label people. That ultra-conservative fundamentalist preacher, that liberal lesbian, that rabid Republican, that neo-con, that young firebrand, that old fogey... But try as we might, folks have a way of transcending the labels we apply in spite of our best attempts to keep them bottled up and tamped down.
I have a friend who is in a terrible time of trouble. Some of it has been public news and that has added to the pain. Out of the blue, she received a call from one of those fundamentalist preachers offering to help. He offered to buy groceries or do any other errands that would require her to go out in public if she needed to stay home to regroup and regather herself. He did this because he knew her husband from serving on a committee with him and wanted to help in some way. Suddenly he was transformed from a pesky television preacher into a fellow human being who felt her pain and wanted to help.
None of us can ever confine another person just to our perceptions of their realities. We are all more and less than we seem to be. And, that is a gift indeed. When we understand that none of us is perfect, or as Paul would say, without sin, a heavy load is lifted from our souls. No matter how good we are, how hard we work for peace and justice, how long we labor in the fields of need and suffering, how smart we are or how much money we have, none of us is without the mark of Cain on our brow. We are all strugglers and stragglers trying to figure ourselves out, help our neighbors in need, live in this world and prepare for the time to come.
All of us wear masks of some kind or another. Like Mardi Gras celebrants, we fix our lovely masks in place so the real face underneath doesn’t show. Some are masks that use our faith and religion to cover up our imperfect selves. John Ortberg says “It may be a stained glass mask but it’s a mask just the same.” Some are masks of power and wealth. Others have the mask of competence and control firmly in place.
Whatever our mask looks like, the fear of being rejected for being our true self keeps the masks firmly in place. No one would like me if they knew I scream at my children so I keep my perfect mother mask in place. How could I lead the deacons if they knew I had lost my job because of an addiction? I sit in church and look calm when I am screaming inside because I don’t know how I am going to make the mortgage payment tomorrow. Sometimes, with people we truly love and trust, we let the mask slip and are occasionally astonished at the graciousness of our fellow travelers. Only when we lay aside our masks can we come to Jesus who offers rest and relief from the burden of pretending to be who we are not. An Amy Grant song says, “All I ever have to be is what You made me.” That is so easy to say and so very hard to do.
Temple Grandin quotes Charles Darwin as the source for the words “lumper” and “splitter” to describe two different types of people. Lumpers generalize and splitters particularize. Animals and autistic folks are particularists and normal people are generalists. Our call as Christians is to remove our masks of the particular and the general to reveal the authentic creations we are, lumpy unformed clay though we may be, beautiful creations in the making nonetheless. “The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you...’” Jeremiah 1:4 We are all, imperfect as we are, perfectly formed, consecrated and known by the One who brought us into being in this world and waits for us in the next. Thanks be to God for the Love that calls us to remove our masks and live as the beautiful imperfect beings we are, loving with grace and gratitude ourselves and others.