Genesis Two - One Flesh

Genesis 2:24

". . . and they shall become one flesh."

History has unfolded in ways that separate men and women so that they often seem to have competing interests. Men and women are meant to work together; what's good for one is good for the other. Because of size and strength men have been able to dominate women, but this domination is not God's will. Theories abound on relationships between men and women, but only occasionally does one hear the message of Genesis 2:24 celebrated. It is essential to start with this teaching: we are one flesh. In that message is the unity God intended. 

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Perhaps, you've had the same experience I've had when visiting friends and family. I feel closer to my loved ones when I've made the commitment to travel to them in person. The hugs we share and sitting together for a meal make for an intimacy that a phone call or email message cannot create. To laugh or cry with the ups and downs of our lives gives perspective that enriches and strengthens my life. 

Judy and I have visited in North Carolina and South Carolina. We have visited in Greensboro, the Myrtle Beach area, Beaufort, Columbia, Black Mountain and Asheville. Now we are in Cookeville, Tennessee and plan to stop tomorrow in Marion, Virginia on our way back to Charlottesville. In over a thousand miles of travel we have seen the landscape change. Each place has beauty of its own: ocean, marshland, farmland and mountains, as well as towns and cities. These sights bring blessings when I pause to appreciate them. Trees and birds and weather are different in one area from those in another. The housing is different. The stores--if you look for the local offerings--are different, too. The exploration delights me.

It pleases me to meet people in the regions we've traveled.  Friendliness abounds. A dulcimer player sitting on a sidewalk in Asheville entered into a conversation with Judy about the joys of music and moved into encouragement for her to pull her dulcimer down from the wall. On occasion casual conversations have moved to discussions of faith, but whether the conversations move deeper or not I have a sense of the humanity we share with others, even strangers, when I travel. 

The Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove near Black Mountain North Carolina was on our itinerary. We attended a concert, spent the night at Pilgrim's Inn and toured the Chapel. The retreat was brief but meaningful. We plan to return soon for a stay that includes a seminar and time for hiking and  a visit to the Ruth Graham prayer garden. 

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Congratulations to the John Leland Center for Theological Studies! This week a team from the Association for Theological Schools visited Leland. In the coming weeks Leland will receive a report from the ATS team that visited. I am hopeful the report will lead to re-accreditation for Leland. I am grateful to God for all the team that prepared for this visit from ATS. To complete the self study and go through the visit from ATS is an accomplishment that came as a result of the faculty, staff, administration, board, students and alumni all working together. I know it was an accomplishment that required sacrifice by many. I am grateful that Leland has completed its study and accreditation visit. I am confident God will continue to bless Leland. Congratulations to the new president of Leland, Dr. Kenneth Pruitt. He will do the work with excellence and lead Leland into a new era of growth and impact for the work of the kingdom.

 In the Beginning God

Genesis 1

“In the Beginning God”

This picture in words gives us a place to start as we meditate on what it means to know God. Earth, our human dwelling place, had a temporal beginning; it is not eternal. God has provided it as a place for the purpose of bringing forth human life. The earth was made beautiful, orderly and good. The creation was to be a place of time. The creation was to be a place of continued flourishing. The creation was to be a place in which human beings—male and female—were meant to take responsibility. This dominion over the earth was a trust, and this stewardship from God helps us understand that what we do with life on earth—how we treat this place—gives us insight to our relationship with God. To be human—in the image of God—means, in part, to be responsible to God for creation given and creation continued.

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Readers of this blog will be generous, I hope, in excusing my “hit and miss” publishing. If I expect people to read what I have written I know that I have a responsibility to publish something on a regular basis. Thank you for reading my blog. I hope it is interesting and helpful. My resolution for this year is to write and publish consistently. 

The entries I make about the Bible for this blog will be at the top of each page. They are comments I have recorded in a journaling Bible.  I have a collection of comments for every chapter of the Bible. They are not meant to be explanatory as one finds in a typical commentary on the Bible. Those commentaries are helpful. My comments, I hope, will be helpful, too, but in a different way. I intend them to be devotional and theological ideas that have come to me morning by morning as I have read the Scripture. Perhaps, they are an insight to how a preacher—as I have been for decades—comes to an idea for a sermon. I would hope that for preachers and teachers who read this blog the entries could become a “starter,” that is they would lead you to your own musings about the text and would give you ideas for a lesson or a sermon. Of course, I pray each day as I read and write. You will, too, if you hope to be guided by the Spirit to an insight that God has for you.

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In the past I have often included a report from the antics or the sayings of my grandchildren. Today’s entry is an observation on the skill I admire in our daughter-in-law’s parenting. One of the children cannot abide the different foods on his plate touching, so Mairin carefully separated the foods that the restaurant had placed too close to each on the plate served to our grandson. As she did this work of love she told the child, “turn your eyes away, please.” Maybe it is her training as a doctor who tells a child who is about to receive an injection, “look away.” I don’t know how she came to the technique, but it worked. Our grandson looked away until his Mom had finished, and he was pleased to see everything arranged properly when he turned back to the plate. Yesterday was Mairin’s birthday. I am grateful she was born, that she married Justin and that she brings to her children and to all of us her love and patience.

Unknown God

Acts 17:23

In my first philosophy class in college on the first day of class the professor said, “Everyone is a philosopher; the question is whether you want to be a good philosopher.”  He wanted us to be thoughtful about life, but our professor knew that becoming thoughtful about one’s life takes more than meeting the requirements of a course in college. As a Christian he believed and taught us the importance of a foundation of faith as well as the importance of reason and history and literature and science. He understood, as well, that trial and error were teachers, too, but they were oft times cruel in their methods of instruction. Thus, one did well to learn as much as possible from the experience of others whether that learning came from books or came from relationships with family and friends. Most of all, reflection on life meant prayer and Bible study and worship and service and giving. To learn philosophy from the professor I had, Dr. Paul Brewer, helped me, and I am grateful that I studied with him.

In Acts 17, the text I am reflecting on in this blog, we find Paul the Apostle in Athens engaged with philosophers. Just like my teacher in college these philosophers sought to find meaning in daily life that transcended daily matters. He spoke to a meeting of the council that gathered on the hill named Areopagus. He preached to Epicureans, and Stoics as well as Pagans who worshiped multiple gods. Paul characterized the people of Athens as “very religious” (verse 22). Paul’s critique of Athenian religion two thousand years ago speaks helpfully to me about the religious culture of America in the 21st century.

In the west the culture appears to be increasingly irreligious. People appear to be, in the words of Schleiermacher, “cultured despisers of religion,” but the seeming irreligion of the west is in my view best understood as religion in a different language, not as irreligion. All people are theologians. Secular people who do not use religious language are, nonetheless, as religious as those who use religious language. As the theologian, Paul Tillich, explained, people are doing what religious language means by theology whenever they express their dedication to an unconditional concern. The concern can be the climate or one’s family or politics or art or business or pleasure or a career or any other endeavor that is pursued unconditionally. Whatever one addresses with unconditional concern is one’s god, and that concern is the practice of what I understand to be the doing of theology. 

Paul Tillich wanted to develop vocabulary that both religious and secular people could share in order to engage with one another about their respective unconditional concerns. Tillich affirmed that Christian faith requires a decision about the claims of Jesus that is unavoidable. However, Tillich saw that people sometimes decide against a faith commitment because they reject religious language with which they cannot identify and don’t fully understand. Even people who have grown up in what we call religious homes have sometimes matured in ways that make the religious language of their youth inadequate for the concerns they have as adults. 

In Athens Paul the Apostle attempted to find a bridge in language between himself and his audience. In the ancient world Christians were accused of atheism because they rejected the Pagan pantheon of gods, and the philosophers were offended by talk of resurrection. They did not take such talk seriously because it did not fit into their understanding of what was possible. Paul extended himself to the people at the Areopagus by speaking of the “unknown god,” and quoting the words of one of their own, explaining that God is not far from any of us because, “in Him we live and move and have our being.” The message of Paul resonated among some of the listeners at the Areopagus, and they wanted to hear more. The Gospel found a hearing. The cross and the resurrection touched hearts and minds. A church started. (34).

In follow up blogs I want to reflect more on how Paul’s witness in Athens helps me think about my witness. It makes me ask the question, how can I communicate with “cultured despisers” who need as all of us do, the Gospel? How can I grow in compassion and appreciation for those who seem dismissive but are in fact searching for meaning? I have missionary motives.

I have another motive as well. It is my hope that America can be a place of freedom of expression for all religions. For Baptists freedom of religion as well as the separation of church and state have been convictions from the denomination’s founding. Freedom and church-state separation can suffer if a “hidden church” in the guise of irreligion can assume power to enforce its views on others. It is important to democracy and the free exercise of religion for this “hidden church” to be identified so that respect and theological dialogue can be brought into the open. Everyone is a theologian, and everyone will benefit when we can talk with each other and disagree with each other about theology without fear that our religious views will be sanctioned by government.

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Travels. Judy and I took a vacation to see Jason and Amanda in Madison. Wisconsin. Their house is on Lake Mendota which provides views each evening of the sun sinking and rippling across the water. We went with them to Milwaukee to see an exhibit of Van Gogh. It was a digital immersion. The experience plunges one into the works of the artist. Van Gogh’s work appears on the four walls, the floor and the ceiling. I have seen his paintings in galleries and studied Van Gogh, but this exhibit gave me new insights to my favorite artist. One day we went to the farmer’s market which surrounds the state Capitol. I brought out my camera to capture the flower stall displays. Judy bought cheese curds to share. We walked more than usual (our doctor son getting us the exercise we need). We browsed book stores which is a favorite Smith family past time. We, also, visited a place called The House on the Rock. Mostly we visited with each other and talked about matters big and small, sharing meals and “catching up.” For a parent who lives a thousand miles from a son this time was a treasure. Jason and Amanda are in process to become foster parents and in time adoptive parents. Madison is often described as a good place in which to raise a family. We are excited with them for the joy ahead in sharing life with a child.

On the way to Madison we stopped in Georgetown, Ohio to visit the “Boyhood Home of U.S. Grant.” We spent the night down the street from Grant’s home in a bed and breakfast which had been the home of friends to the Grant family. A meeting of a committee for the Grant boyhood home met at the bed and breakfast where we were staying. It was fun to interact with people whose interest in U.S. Grant is as great as mine.

On the way home we visited Janice Brazil in Richmond, Indiana. She is a friend of over forty years. Her son, Ben, and his family live in Richmond where Ben is a professor at the Earlham School of Religion. I enjoyed talking with Ben about theological education and seeing Laura, his wife, and the children—all living on the same street as Janice, just a half block away in a neighborhood that might be the set for Bedford Falls (It’s a Wonderful Life).

Having a son who turns fifty this December and friends whom I’ve known for forty years makes me realize I am a senior adult! Actually I have a few friends of sixty-five years, a few cousins of more than seventy years, a brother of more than sixty years. All these long time relationships make me grateful for each day of life with family and friends. Though, in fact, time is not the most important aspect in my relationships. I have friends and family that I’ve only recently met (Grandson Stone is only three), but new friends, just as long time friends and new family, just as family of long knowing, are as dear to me as life itself.

Church Beloved

Ephesians 5:25

“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her . . .”

This statement in Ephesians that “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” does not mean that Christ loved the church only or loved the church instead of the world or loved the church more than the world. The passage in Ephesians does mean that Christ gave himself to his disciples in a unique way. Jesus gave up his ministry of physical presence on earth so that the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, could begin its work of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In this sense the church is beloved. The church is not loved more than the world. The church is beloved by its being entrusted with the Gospel.

In John’s Gospel we find these remarkable words of Jesus “. . .whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these . . .” (John 14:12) No one could take these words of Jesus to mean that the church would do anything greater than the cross and the resurrection. So, these words, “greater works,” mean something else.  

In only one way is the church greater. The church has taken the Gospel, the news of Christ’s redeeming sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection from the dead to the world. Jesus went to the Father. He ascended after the resurrection. To the church he gave the ministry of evangelism. To the church was given the work of spreading the Gospel to people who never heard the voice of Jesus or saw his wonders. This truth recalls the encounter between Thomas and Jesus in one of the post resurrection appearances. Thomas made the declaration before Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus responded to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) The church has received the blessing of faith, and the church has been the means by which God has given this blessing to the world.

Speaking of "beloved church," tomorrow (Sunday July 11) Judy and I are going (DV) for worship to Memorial Baptist Church in Arlington where Dr. Drew Hill is pastor. This church is beloved by Judy and me. We spent almost twenty years at Memorial for which we are grateful to God. After service we are going to a birthday celebration for one of the church members, Mrs. Nellie Grant, who turns 100 years old. Nellie is a friend to whom I will be grateful forever because she reached out to my parents with attention and love, especially in the days of their illnesses and deaths. Many will want to come to share this special day with Nellie because she has cared through the years for many just as  she cared for my family. 

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Grandchildren. On the 4th of July our granddaughter, with parental help, hosted a party for their immediate neighbors in the Belmont neighborhood in Charlottesville where they live. Mostly young adults with their children attended the party. The weather cooperated. We enjoyed food, drink and decorations made by the children. Listening to the neighbors of my son and daughter-in-law as they visited in the back yard, I realized that these young adults were remarkable people who talked of significant matters with civility and thoughtfulness. Although I was taken with the high level of education and significant work they were all engaged in doing I was humbled by the way they talked without drawing attention to themselves. Gentle, thoughtful, convicted and open to hearing and learning. It was a party to remember. Leaving I felt confident about a future in the hands of these folks. As we began to leave we came upon our youngest grandson, age 3, crying inconsolably. His big sister, age 12--the party organizer--was trying to console him. He had seen someone leave the party, and he knew it meant the party would soon be over. He didn't want it to end. It was poignant for me to feel his sensitivity, the realization at a child's level of understanding, that good things come to an end. In time he will be relieved to learn that bad things come to an end as well, and most of all I want him to learn that "all things" (happy or sad) when put in the hands of the one for whom time never ends or begins--all things work together for good.

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Reading. I have learned--I think--not to recommend books. What I like in a book may be due to a  moment in my life which the book addresses, and that moment likely does not match what is happening in someone else's life. A  book seems right for me, but it's not right for you. I like to share what I am reading, not in order to get you to read it, too. I share what I am reading in the thought that someone else may be reading the same book with appreciation and in that shared appreciation I may find a friend or a colleague whom I didn't know I had.  Less and less do I read books all the way through. I am an impatient reader. However, here is a book I am reading for the second time. The first time through I stopped reading it multiple times because I was unhappy with what I read, but for some reason I felt compelled to pick it up again. I finished it, and I am now reading it through for the second time, and I am underlining and making notes in the margins. The book is a collection of essays by Wendell Berry put together by Norman Wirzba. The book is entitled The Art of the Commonplace: the Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry. Many years ago I read fiction by Wendell Berry, and I liked his fiction, especially Jayber Crowe. I knew from what others told me that he was a bit of a Luddite, so I didn't read more than his fiction until now. I wonder if I should have read him sooner, but that speculation doesn't get me anywhere. I rest on the thought (see above) that "all things work together for good." When the right time came the book appeared.

Of course, as a student and now as a teacher I have read books on assignment, and I have assigned books. So, I am not consistent. What I wrote in the previous paragraph is not exactly the way I do things. I do recommend the Bible to people with caution. Reading the Bible straight through is seldom the best way to approach Scripture. It is better to start with more accessible parts. Read the "Sermon on the Mount," Matthew 5-7. Read the "Love Chapter," 1 Corinthians 13 or read the "Gospel of John." Read Genesis 37-50. Read the book of Proverbs. Read Esther. Read the prophet Amos. As the Bible gets into your "bones" (Jereimiah 20:9) you will enjoy expanding your reading, and you will read the Bible all your life. The Bible is an adult book. Do not think it will be easy reading. It will be profound. It will satisfy your thirst and hunger for meaning in life (Psalm 42:1), but it will not be easy. Mark Twain was asked, "Doesn't it bother you all the parts of the Bible you don't understand?" He replied, "No. what bothers me are all the parts I do understand." 

Genesis One

In the Beginning God

Genesis chapter one is a picture in words. It gives us a first look at how we can view what it means to know God. Earth, our human dwelling place, had a temporal beginning; it is not eternal. God has provided it as a place for the purpose of bringing forth human life. The earth was made beautiful, orderly and good. The creation was to be a place of time. The creation was to be a place of continued flourishing. The creation was a place in which human beings—male and female—were meant to take responsibility. This entrusted dominion over the earth helps one understand that what we do with life on earth—how we treat this place—gives us insight to our relationship with God. Te be human—in the image of God—means in part, to be responsible to God for the creation given by God  and the creation continued for God.

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My reading bag. I carry around a canvas bag filled with books that I am reading. Occasionally, I read something else, too, usually a mystery of some sort. But in my reading bag this first week of 2021 I have nine books.

Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace (second time through) 

Ellen Davis, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture

Edwin Friedman, Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, A Failure of Nerve (second time through)

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

C.S. Lewis, Perelandra

Paul Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery (African Studies)

Don Reid, The Music of The Statler Brothers: An Anthology (Music and the American South) 

Alan Taylor, Thomas Jefferson’s Education

Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel, Religious Institutions

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Our grandchildren continue to teach us. This new year I greet 2021 as they have taught me when they jump from the car and run toward me with laughter shining in their faces, “Hi Pal!” Life, each day, is a gift to greet with joy.  

Too Small to Fail

 Zechariah 4:10 "Small Beginnings"

R. James Breiding wrote a book published in 2019 entitled “Too Small to Fail.” The title is a play on the phrase, “Too Big to Fail” which became popular in the mid-80’s to describe the theory that some corporations are so big that the government must prevent their failure for the good of the national economy. Breiding proposes in his book that smallness can be a strength, too. In fact, he shows that many small nations are achieving success in education, health care and satisfaction among citizens that larger nations find difficult to achieve.

Breiding’s book is not written from any religious perspective that I can detect although he has an appreciation for the contribution religion makes in the creation of social cohesion, and that cohesion is an important quality for a successful democracy. So “Too Small to Fail” is not a religious book, but it has implications for the church. Zechariah 4:10 written in reference to the small beginnings of the exilic Temple project reads,  “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin. . .” (NLT).  For many people bigger churches are thought to be better than smaller churches, but that operating assumption is beginning to show weakness. Two pastors of very strong (meaning larger) churches have told me this week that they see a shift coming. Partly, the Covid-19 pandemic is responsible, or better said, the pandemic is accelerating a trend which had already begun toward the recognition that smaller can be and often is better. Some church growth strategists see the next expansion of the church happening through extension or creation of new churches rather than a large church just getting larger.

One church I know about has gotten ahead of the “curve” in this matter. The church grows to a certain size, and then it starts a new church in its own building. The pastor issues a call to members of the congregation to walk down the hallway to the chapel where a new mission church is starting. The mission holds worship at the same time as the “mother’ congregation. The mission incubates or grows inside the “mother” church until the new congregation has the numerical and financial strength to purchase property in another neighborhood, and the mission moves out to form a new independent church. The “mother” church then grows until it fills its building again and repeats the process. Several churches have been formed in this way.

Another model is for a stronger church in partnership with a smaller church develop a strategy in which the larger church issues a call to its membership for fifty people to go on mission. Their call is to join the smaller church partner that is struggling financially and struggling in finding leadership and struggling to connect with its community. The fifty missionaries stay with the smaller church until it gains viability. At that point some return to the “mother” church and some discover a new place of ministry in the smaller but now better functioning church. Instead of growing bigger and bigger the “mother church” re-seeds smaller congregations which enables those smaller churches to flourish.

It may be that the small to medium size neighborhood church is growing more attractive as a way to gather for worship, fellowship and service. The Covid-19 crisis has helped people see the benefits of smaller groups. Also, people are discovering that even though the phenomenon of video conferencing helps the church to stay connected, it is a poor substitute for in person community. The desire for community is leading to a new appreciation for the smaller church which offers a way to know and be known, a way to experience an extended faith family. Large congregations have an important place in church life, but today people are seeing that smaller congregations, also, have an important place in church life. They are not too big to fail; they are too small to fail.

Wearing Masks

The Lone Ranger, starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, was a television show that I did not miss as a child. When the opening musical theme began, the “William Tell Overture,” I was in place. Sometimes with my own cowboy hat, holster and set of six shooters strapped on. Sometimes I wore a mask because, of course, the Lone Ranger wore a mask. The masked man, the Lone Ranger, and his partner, Tonto, committed themselves to righting wrongs in the old west. This television show was on in the 1950’s. Movie versions have appeared, too, though nothing quite replaces for me the affection I have for the weekly tv shows. There were other masked heroes in my childhood as well, Batman and Robin, for example. Spiderman wore a mask. (Superman did not wear a mask. He disguised himself by wearing a pair of glasses when he was not in his super hero mode.)

So, masks are nothing new to me. From my childhood they have been part of my experience. Not only the experience of watching the Lone Ranger but children wore masks as part of the annual Halloween celebrations. Our grandchildren like masks, too. Ninja masks are especially popular with them. I suppose the mask wearing helps one imagine his or her assumed role as a hero. Earlier this year I saw a cartoon in which a doctor (they sometimes wear masks) was invited to stand with a group of super heroes. The caption to the cartoon read, “Welcome to the Club.” Having family members in medicine I liked that cartoon. Many doctors, nurses, and first responders have served us heroically during the Covid-19 crisis. I am grateful for them.

Of course, masks are used by people who do bad things to hide their identity. Criminals don’t want to be caught when they commit crimes. A mask helps them in their unheroic behavior. As an adult, until this year, I have thought of bank robbers and other criminals, not the Lone Ranger, when I have considered people wearing masks. What made the Lone Ranger unique is that he was one of the good ones, but he wore a mask. Mostly, I have associated the bad ones with mask wearing.

That is, I had thought of mask wearing as a shield to criminals until I started visiting in the East, particularly the Middle East. There I saw women who masked their faces out of religious conviction and modesty. After being in Saudia Arabia for two months I accepted mask wearing as typical. Women who didn’t wear masks seemed different, not the other way round. Of course, one does not have to move to the Middle East to experience some challenges in the messages communicated by clothing. I remember how surprised I was in my first months living in San Francisco when I went to the dry cleaners and stood in line with a Buddhist monk dressed in an orange robe. Of course, I knew that Buddhist monks existed and dressed in orange robes, but it was different for me to stand in line with my neighbor at the dry cleaners. Living in Virginia I have felt some dislocation related to clothing as well. On a Sunday evening I came back from a church service, perhaps, it was a funeral, and I was wearing a suit. I stopped at a local diner in rural Virginia about dinner time. Everyone in the diner, except me, was dressed in camo.

All this to say that what we wear is not typically in itself good or bad. How we dress is a complex blend of culture and personal style. Sometimes how we dress reflects our work. Surgeons wear masks and lots of medical people wear scrubs. Firefighters and police officers wear uniforms, as do priests and baseball players. Clothing communicates: our job, our style, our culture and even our religion.

Clothing styles change. Watch a sports news clip from a baseball stadium in the early 50’s. Young people may be surprised to see that almost every man at a professional ball game was dressed in a suit and a fedora. People who traveled by air in the 50’s often “dressed up.” As did people who went to church. Now, it is the other way round. Of course, the stylish slacks and untucked shirt may cost more than a man’s suit. The style of dress does not reflect cost or even attention to dress. People use their clothing to communicate. It is not always clear what is being communicated, but clothing requires some choice and some reason and consequently, some message.

Mask wearing during the Covid-19 pandemic has for some people become a political statement. Recently, the President affirmed mask wearing in a way that may de-politicize it. Hopefully so, since mask wearing seems to be a way to reduce risk of getting or giving the virus. At least, that is the theory of most of our medical leaders at this point in time. So, mask wearing is something I’m doing as a matter of health, for myself and for others.

I’ve read that in early pandemics people became quite creative in designing masks that were stylish. Some folks today are doing the same. A person’s mask gives opportunity to promote your favorite sports team or your school, your business or, of course, your political viewpoint. There is no way around it. Clothing, including masks, communicates. We do or don’t wear them. We style them in a particular way. We send signals to each other. 

I hope most people will wear masks for the sake of health. If you feel the need to make a statement then draw something on your mask or find some other creative way to fashion a mask message. If you have been reluctant to wear a mask then imagine yourself as the Lone Ranger, one of the good ones. Your mask wearing can mean what you want. Don’t let the mask itself mean something. Turn it into something positive for you. Make your own statement, and maybe the mask will be important to the health of all of us as well.