This Sunday marks the beginning of a series on Epiphany entitled, "Remain in Light." This disarming picture above is actually a mock-up from the 1980 Talking Heads album cover also titled, "Remain in Light" and uses our four appointed clergy in place of the band members.
I've read various things about this artwork. It was one of the first computer-generated art pieces used in mass media production. Some have claimed that the masks or the suffusion of the red blurring out the faces represent the difficulty of showing our true selves. It is often hard for us to remain in light.
And yet, we seek to lift the bar high as the people of God.
Our faith reminds us that "Christ is the world's light" as Jesus declares in John's Gospel, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (8:12b, NRSVUE).
Of course, this statement is an exaggeration - a kind of wishful thinking. It would be nice if following Jesus meant we would never face darkness in our lives but in reality, we face difficult tests every day. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation."
And of course, Jesus showed us how to be vulnerable. Jesus was comfortable in his own skin and was comfortable around all kinds of people. His dinner partners often confounded those in high status.
Maybe this was because they were unable to take off their masks.
As we seek to find ourselves walking in the light during the Epiphany season, we will begin on Sunday with the Baptism of the Lord as we remember the baptism of Jesus. We will move through the Gospel stories from the Lectionary and end with Transfiguration Sunday. All of these will help us to recognize our own masks and remain in light.
