Stained Glass Masquerade

// May 4th, 2007 // Christian Living, Church Life, Video

This is a video someone put together for a song by Casting Crowns. The song is called “Stained Glass Masquerade”.

One comment on YouTube after seeing this video:

I feel like that all the time.

Let’s do something a little different this Sunday. Kill the masquerade.

Have a great weekend.

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7 Responses to “Stained Glass Masquerade”. Gravatars are enabled.

  1. Sarah P says:
    May 4, 2007 at 6:45 pm

    So true, Ben. I don’t know if it was changing churches, or if I just got more mature in my walk, but in 02 when we first went to Alliance, I was expecting sort of a “dry” worship experience, as I had heard from others. On the contrary, I was set free from believing that I had to act a certain way to be spiritual, and filled with the Spirit. I believe that for so long, I had subconsciously put on the mask of what I thought it looked like to be a spirit-filled Christian. I think the turning point was when I had post traumatic panic disorder after Emma was born, and I was said to be “no longer spriitually stable.” This has been one of my favorite songs ever since it came out. PS I linked to you in my blog today.

    Reply
  2. Jan says:
    May 5, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    Thanks for sharing that! When we left Boone, we really went through a time of being sick of pretending… people who knew me then and know me now say I am a lot more REAL… that is the biggest complement they could pay me, really. I want people to know that I am broken, struggling, yucky, but trying my best to let God regenerate me and make me into His image. Now that we are missionaries, we go home and people think we are some sort of super-spiritual people, and we have to almost force our humanity upon them! I’m sure you will have that as a pastor too… people wanting to believe you are sooo there, you have arrived! And you know the truth. So, go for it! Don’t be a plastic pastor, okay??? :-)

    Reply
  3. Ben Cotten says:
    May 5, 2007 at 7:35 pm

    Your stories are so common! Yes, it’s human nature to want to hide but I also think that much of the problem is in how we do church. The modern church model, where we fashion our churches to look like shopping malls and everything from the sermon to the toilets is spit polished and staged, creates an illusion that the Christian life is a choreographed ballet from one glory to another. Authenticity gets traded in for a better marketing strategy.

    We must find a way to do church with excellence, relevancy, authenticity and truth.

    Reply
  4. Terry Henry says:
    May 9, 2007 at 2:18 pm

    There was a time when I thought I was going crazy because of all the things I was thinking and feeling. I made things even worse by being a “leaking vessel” and talking about my situation with others—some were sympathetic and some would just take what I had said and report back to the people I felt I couldn’t share with.

    I even reached a low point where I wished I wasn’t who God created me to be but wanted to be someone I thought would be more understood and accepted—someone who could fit within the system I found myself a part of.

    As I was driving one day I was brought to a place where the Father told me that He loved my youthful demeaner and my childlike nature and that there was no one quite like me. That I should accept myself because He did.

    Sometimes we almost have to disciple ourselves into being what we were meant to be as those around us are busy doing “church” business.

    Being real with ourselves is the first step to being real with God and with others.

    Reply
  5. Ben Cotten says:
    May 9, 2007 at 3:08 pm

    Sometimes we almost have to disciple ourselves into being what we were meant to be as those around us are busy doing “church” business.

    Agreed. If we wait for other people to “release us” from the box we are bound in, we will be waiting a long time. As the son and brother of a pastor it took me years of complaining about “everyone putting me in a box” for me to finally hear God say: “What box? I don’t see any box.”

    Thanks for stopping by, Terry.

    Reply
  6. Ask Andrea » carnival of Christian advice - June 4, 2007 Edition says:
    June 5, 2007 at 1:14 pm

    [...] Cotten presents Stained Glass Masquerade posted at .: The SoapBox :., saying, “We must learn to be authentic worshippers that do not [...]

    Reply
  7. An Unorthodox Retirement Ceremony : Real Life says:
    January 16, 2010 at 9:55 am

    [...] God knows doesn’t do me justice. Maybe it’s one of my many masks, as in the song on Ben’s blog today. Is he cringing every time I put it on? Or maybe it’s one of my activities or jobs that [...]

    Reply

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