“It’s just a little powder.”

That from the make-up unit in a tv studio to someone soon to be interviewed in front of the cameras.  Someone unfamiliar with the norms of “looking natural” under lights.  That would have been me too.

For me it is an age and culture thing.  Make-up – even if it is only “a little powder” – is not part of my daily routine.  Nor is moisturiser.  Or much personal grooming at all really.  My wife despairs at my wash-and-go routine concluded by a millisecond glance in the mirror and the daily “Looking Good.” verdict.  Looking good comes at a cost she tells me – and is never ever something that just “happens” – and nor does it “just happen” on a daily basis.

So I am with the person who reared back a little as the make-up person believed that “just a little powder” was obligatory.  Just a little “anything” like that is a big stretch in my world.

“Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.  He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.  He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”  So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.  They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” Mark 6:7-13

Aren’t these fab verses?

In the context of the Gospel of Mark it is all about preaching the good news and making disciples.  In the context of the Gospel it is about sending out the twelve in “two-disciples-and-no-Jesus” splinter groups.  In the context of these verses it is no more safety-net / comfort zone “twelve-of-us-and-Jesus”.  And in the context of these verses it is NOT about you and me becoming the twelve.  It is never about you and me becoming the twelve.  But these are fab verses today and right now.

“Not even a little powder.”

We are all on a journey.  Right now today.  So take no baggage for the journey that will become “my baggage”.  Trust in me and who I am.  Trust in others and who they are.    Connect with myself and who I can be.  Connect with others and who they can be.  Be me and “become me”.  Don’t carry baggage that will become “baggage”.

I can be myself just as I am – the who I can be and who I will become (if I allow).

No preaching required.  No evangelising required.  No saving souls required.  Just me living in my own skin.  The one that is mine and no one else’s.  The skin that needs no powder to look good.  Living in my skin which contains a sacred and unique human being (that might just change the world through being no more than me).  The full me.  The only me.  The always me.  The me with you – no “baggage” at all between us – not even religion!

Aren’t these fab verses to live by?

I happen to believe in my God Soft Hands Jesus.  It is a changing belief.  It is a changed belief.  So I do not fear your beliefs – changed or unchanging.  I do not wish you to believe my beliefs – because mine have changed and will continue changing as I continue changing.

But I do wish that we both meet with any “baggage” getting in the way of connecting.  I do wish to connect without having even a little powder hiding me from you and you from me.  I do wish that you wish the same.  And if you don’t – that is okay.

Because this is not about me changing you.  This is about me changing me.

The me who finds those other verses: “Love without condition, without “baggage”, without “religion” without differentiation … “  equally fab to live by.  Because that is how I find my “path” to becoming the me I always wanted to be, always thought I should be … But the me who always needed so much “baggage” to NOT be the me I always thought I should be.

So this is not about changing you.  This about me and changing me and my living.

Always.

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