Stained Glass Masquerade
I was recently chatting with one of my young friends in the lobby after one of the Sunday services. She was relating to me her ongoing battle with cigarettes. She is refreshingly honest and open and told me a story that still makes me laugh.
She was standing outside the front door of the church smoking when a fellow came up to her and said: “Don’t you know that smoking is bad for you and that it’s a sin?” Her reply to this earnest young man was “At least my sin is public and out in the open, what about you? Is there anything you’re doing privately that you would be ashamed of people knowing?” There was only an embarrassed silence as the young man stormed off.
There is a great song by the group Casting Crowns called “Stained Glass Masquerade”:
So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the part again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them
Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade
This song talks about the struggles many of us face deep down but can never show in the church. How sad is it that we can’t be real with one another among brothers and sisters in the Lord!? Church should be the one place that we CAN show what’s inside!
Living a transparent life is a risky endeavor unless we are planted in community that reflects the life of Christ in a radical, accepting, forgiving way. May Crossroads be a church that so radically expresses the life of Christ that people can be coaxed to “close the curtain on our stained glass masquerade”, step out into the light and receive the healing and forgiveness that God intends.
There is a great song by the group Casting Crowns called “Stained Glass Masquerade”:
So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the part again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them
Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade
This song talks about the struggles many of us face deep down but can never show in the church. How sad is it that we can’t be real with one another among brothers and sisters in the Lord!? Church should be the one place that we CAN show what’s inside!
Living a transparent life is a risky endeavor unless we are planted in community that reflects the life of Christ in a radical, accepting, forgiving way. May Crossroads be a church that so radically expresses the life of Christ that people can be coaxed to “close the curtain on our stained glass masquerade”, step out into the light and receive the healing and forgiveness that God intends.
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