By Kat Silverglate Founder (Copyright 2020)

It feels a bit like a scene from a sci-fi movie doesn't it?  Daily pandemic life? You go to the grocery store or the post office and the employees are in surgical masks with plexiglass barriers and yellow tape on the floor.  Customers, most of them, look like amateur bank robbers with homemade disguises and rubber gloves.  The least tentative ones are donning some kind of military grade mask with round bug like vents designed to handle the likes of mustard gas, but the air isn't thick with that.  It's thick with anxiety and fear.  I wonder whether these masks filter that out as I attempt to process this new world wide pandemic reality.

The moment I clear my throat I have my answer.

Countless eyes pierce me with dagger sharpness like my real identity has accidentally been exposed. I'm not another customer to them now. I'm akin to a walking vessel of germ warfare about to detonate.  Even the fear in the confident guy behind the World War 2 Surplus mask is exposed.  If eyes could kill, I’d surely I'd be a statistic right now.

“I really was just clearing my throat,” I want to say aloud but I know they don’t know that.  I remind myself that our faces may be covered, but our eyes expose something deeper that can't be hidden behind a veil -- the thing that's going on in our hearts -- fear of exposure.  I'm feeling that fear too.  Most are. 

“Step behind the yellow line ma'am,” the postal employee instructs me.

“I'm sorry. I didn't see it” I smile as I quickly obey with a dance like hop trying to break the tension.  He can't see my mouth behind the mask but my eyes crinkle when I smile.  I hope he notices.  I can see his mouth clearly though.  He's not wearing a mask.  The irony is definitely not lost on me.

My mind wanders to the bag of handmade masks sitting on the front seat of my car not made by me.  No, I don't have that superpower.  They were made by a group of people who responded to a Facebook post we did depicting Rosie the Riveter on a T shirt with the caption: I make face masks what's your superpower. It was a repost of an ad. The post simply invited anybody who wanted to come together to make masks to join The Ridiculous Hour in its goal of producing 609 masks by the end of May. 

The reaction many had to that Facebook post probably mimicked the reaction some had to that T shirt – Is mask making a real superpower?  The private and public responses were varied, but kind of consistent:

“I don't have that superpower, but I wish I did.”

“I know how to sew, but I'm not very good.”

“I can't afford fabric right.  Anyway, elastic isn't available anywhere. I'll have to wait.”

“I can make a few but not 609.”  That one made me reread what we had posted about the masks. Perhaps we could have worded it a little more clearly.  Ok, a lot.

“That's really nice but honestly I need a reusable scrub cap more than a mask.  Can you find someone with that superpower, please?”

It seemed that just about everybody felt a little exposed by their perceived lack and then something wonderful started to happen.  Something well, ridiculous.  As each person shared what was missing for them, God brought someone or something to fill it.  It seemed, as it was unfolding, that the willingness to express a need led to the right kind of exposure.  Exposure to God's power in our weakness.  Exposure to His wonderful ways.

Listen to this.  The one who felt a little exposed because she didn't have the sewing superpower.  She felt a nudge to repost the invitation on her own Facebook page.  One of her friends who liked the post decided to set a goal of 100 masks. Here’s a paraphrase of what she said after we met her.   

“I don't sew so very much.  Mostly I fix things that need to be fixed for myself and my family. I didn't really know what fabric I'd use so I started to practice with my clothes in my closet. The ones I don't wear anymore. And then, I remembered a large piece of cloth I bought to make a quilt for my son.  It’s covered in soccer balls.  I looked in his closet and there it was.”

Just as she completed her 30th mask, a preschool director contacted the Ridiculous Hour Foundation.

“I have 20 preschool teachers returning to work next week and they don't have masks. Can we buy some?”

“They aren't for sale.  They’re free,” we responded. “We're giving them away to those in need as a reminder that we are exposed to God's ridiculous love 24/7.”

Can you imagine the kids’ reaction when they saw their teachers’ faces covered in colorful soccer balls?  Ridiculous.

Another with the sewing superpower remembered a gift she'd received from a friend who died about five years ago.  Beautiful piles of colorful fabric given for a mission to clothe kids in Africa.  She had used as much as she could for the mission and then stored it away not knowing what to do with it.

“It's so gorgeous and there's so much of it, I almost hate to cut it up into tiny pieces,” she shared.

“Can you make surgical scrub caps with it,” we asked?  “We've heard from at least one front line health care worker that they are in short supply.  She’s losing her hair because she keeps tying it up in a tight bun before each shift.” 

This super seamstress confessed her feeling of lack immediately. 

“I don't even know what that is -- a surgical scrub cap.”  With a little help from others, she figured it out, made her own pattern and now?  Now there are health care professionals caring for others with bespoke, richly-patterned, reusable scrub caps.  Oh, and with the remaining fabric?  She made masks.

Check this out.  Just as she completed a beautiful batch we got an email from a woman in Central Florida.  She needed something soft and comfortable that she could keep on for longer periods of time. When she made the request, she had no idea she would receive a mask made from the fabric contributed by her own daughter for that Africa mission all those years earlier.  Think about that.  Her daughter has been gone for five years and she is wearing a mask made with fabric chosen by her own daughter.  And now, her grandson needs one.  Her daughter’s son.  Imagine.

Another with the sewing superpower had a large stash of fabric she had tucked away after her mom died many years ago. Her mom was a nurse and a quilter.  She had given so much of the fabric away, but there was still much left over gathering dust in a closet.  When I asked if she wanted to make masks, she responded:

“I love to sew, and I have loads of fabric from my Mom; but I don't think I can make 609 masks Kat.”

“Make as many or as few as you feel led to make.  Nothing will be wasted.”

Can you imagine this daughter watching her mother’s two loves come together -- sewing and health care -- as she fashioned masks out of the fabric her mom chose and touched and loved? 

Still another came across some beautiful fabric table runners that had been made for a woman's retreat at her church.  She went to someone with authority and simply asked, can I have these so they can be converted to masks? 

“Of course,” they responded.  “We don't use them anymore.”  This super hero had the power but not the supplies.  She had no idea where she'd get the fabric to contribute.  But God did. 

There are simply too many stories to tell at this point but we’ll end the story portion of this mission with this one.  If you see a postal worker with a mask covered in soccer balls, please crinkle your eyes at him knowing that the story we started with here ended very well with the right kind of cover -- the cover of God's ridiculous relentless love.

So, our mission this month is simple.  Enclosed with this month’s mission pack is a simple pattern for a mask.  Pray over it.  Is God prompting you in any way as a result of this story?  God showed us that we don’t have all the pieces to respond.  Perhaps you have a friend group like the first person in our story.  She simply shared the idea, and look what God did.  Or you have the skill but not the materials, or the materials and not the skill or the people who need masks, or or or.  You get the idea.  Make it your own.

And if you do decide to do something with this month’s mission, we’d be thrilled to hear your story.  The stories of what you’ve done with these missions keeps us going.   Our story link is available 24/7 on our website, theridiculoushour.com.  Please share yours!  We can’t wait to hear what God does with this one.