Some day I'd like to come up with a Letterman style Top Ten List of excuses for why people don't come to church. For instance, one lady told me some years ago that she can never come to church because her husband works late Saturday night and always parks behind her. But the number one reason would be a phrase I've heard many times, and maybe you have too: "I don't come to church, because the church is filled with hypocrites." My stock answer to that is, "Thank God. What better place for them?" Actually, what better place for us?

I read an article in The New Yorker a few weeks ago, that talked about one of our candidates for the presidency. The article said that this person is the same in public as in private. This candidate is no hypocrite: what you see is what you get. The author suggested this might work against presidential ambitions. Whereas other candidates might let down their hair in private ... in public they try to pretend presidential, to practice presidential, to act presidential. This particular candidate seems unwilling to do that. On the one had we might applaud such honesty. On the other hand, we want our presidents to at least appear presidential ... in public. We want our presidents to be models ... roles models we can emulate. We want them to be good actresses and actors, these candidates. The point of the article seems to have been, when a man or a woman wins the election and steps into that Oval Office ... the more they pretend presidential, practice presidential, and act presidential, the more presidential they hopefully become. The actor playing a role ... actually assumes the role. Unless he or she always puts their best face forward, in private as well as public, heaven help the candidate who behaves the same in public as in private because, to speak theologically, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God.

I occasionally party with pastors and sometimes we get a little too loud and tell dumb jokes and act in ways we would never act in front of the congregation on a Sunday morning. Hypocritical? I suppose. But don't you want your pastors and your presidents to be role models, even though in your heart of hearts you know they are flesh-and-blood with feet of clay? So, when I put on my costume I try hard to be the smiling, helpful, optimistic sort of parson that people expect a clergyman to be. I act differently in public than I do in private. But I like to think the more I act the role of a Christian leader, the more that role might eventually fit me. And me fit that role. From this perspective, to be a hypocrite is not necessarily a bad thing.

Our text from Matthew mentions the word hypocrites several times. The Greek hupocrites is not a negative word I can name some fine hupocrites and you would applaud their skills: John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Drew Barrymore: hupocrites. Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Spacey: more hupocrites. A hypocrite is one who pretends, plays a part, acts. We expect to see hupocrites on the stage of silver screen.

In our text, however, Jesus talks about those who give money to church or charity and make a show of doing so, ta-ta-ta-taa - trumpeting themselves. Hupocrites, hypocrites he calls them. Those who act a certain pious part in the public square, just to get the attention and the applause of others. Those who pray in public, using polysyllabic words to display their oratorical skills. Hupocrites, hypocrites Jesus calls them. Those who fast, wearing long faces and mournful looks to show how difficult such fasting is and how much they are suffering as engage in a spiritual discipline. Hupocrites, hypocrites Jesus calls them. Pretenders. That type of person we don't want to be.

Keep in mind - these are those who are doing the right things - but they are doing them for the wrong reasons. Those who give, and pray, and fast ... not because they want to draw closer to God ... but because they want to earn the praise of their neighbor. Even the act of putting a smudge of ash on our foreheads could be, could be hypocritical, if the reason we have ashes imposed is not as a sign of our sin, but to trumpet our piety to our neighbors.

To bring this full circle, public figures are often actors, hypocrites ... because their best behavior is often not their every day behavior. Their best clothes are not their every day clothes. But rather than look down on them, we pray that they grow into the role they are playing. After all, each one of us wants to put on our best public face and behavior. Our best in public can help us grow into the type of Christian we want others to think we already are!

Having said all this, it seems odd to think on this day, Ash Wednesday, indeed during the entire season of Lent, we are invited to bring, not our best, but our worst selves to God. Today is such a poignant time on the Christian calendar, as we wear the sign of our sin on our foreheads. This symbol of our human weakness; this reminder that our lives on this earth are of limited duration. Ash Wednesday is not a time for hypocrites and actors. It is a time to acknowledge our frailty, our weakness, our fear. It is a time to bring our worst to God ... and have God forgive it! If we cannot let down our mask in this setting ... we cannot let down our mask anywhere. And how sad that would be.

We don't have to put on smiley faces and be photogenic before our God. God sees who we really are. Hopefully, we can let down our masks to our neighbor in the pew. Why not? We know we're all in the same boat anyway. And how freeing it is to be ourselves.

Our Lenten theme this year has to do with men from the Bible who are not so different from you and me: they are seeking something more in life. And as each of them encounters Jesus, they learn they can stop playing games, they can let down their hair, they can take off their mask ... and get real.

Join us here at Grace on Wednesday evenings - possibly the one public place in your community where you can come as you are ... and be accepted, just as you are. And who knows? Maybe you'll discover how to become even more the person God calls you to be.