I lead worship from time to time, especially within my family’s church.  It’s a lot of fun – I get to play piano, sing, and worship Jesus, which are three of my favorite things to do (along with seeing beautiful vistas, writing, hanging out with family, etc., etc.)  Usually, I use “chord charts” – a musical notation that was developed to show guitarists what “chord” to play.  But it works just as well for pianists and other instruments.

If you put together a group of chord charts and publish it, it’s called a “Fakebook.”  The idea is that there isn’t any musical notation (though some will have the melody of the song written out on a musical staff).  Instead, you follow the chords to “fake it” and play whatever comes into your head around the general idea of the chord.

Fakebooks are great – they’re an easier way to learn to play (especially in a band setting), allow for musical expression, and let you work with other musicians so that you all can shine instead of being held to a specific set of notes (like an orchestra).  Hand around a fakebook, and everyone knows what to play and/or sing, since most include the lyrics as well as the chords to play.  (Meanwhile, the drummer is looking at me like, “Fakebook?  Why do I need that if the lyrics are on the screen?”)

The problem with being a genuine person is that it’s very difficult for you to “fake it.”  There’s no such thing as a “fakebook” for genuine people.  Either they are themselves, or else they’re obviously completely ingenuine.

I’m not sure this is such a bad thing.  After all, when you’re allowed to be yourself, you’re less stressed about keeping up a façade, and you’re more likely to be able to spread peace around you – and to encourage others to be genuinely themselves, too.  So the inability to be fake actually spreads peace.

But it can also be challenging.  “Why can’t you act more loving?  Be less exuberant?  Put it on for Great-Aunt Josephine?”  I’m all for self-control (it is a Fruit of the Spirit, after all (Galatians 5:23)).  There’s nothing sinful about pulling back out of love, assuming you’re not pulling back on a topic that God has told you to stand firm on (Romans 14:13, 15; Galatians 2:11-13).  There’s also great joy and reward in laying down your own desires in order to love others (Acts 20:35).  But it can be challenging to be with people who are successfully faking it and to know that you’ll only fail if you try.

And so you end up in situations where you would just fake it to fit in – if you could.  But as I said, there’s no fakebook when it comes to genuine people.  They have to be themselves.

The good news is that genuine people attract each other.  So if you’re a genuine person, chances are you’ll hit it off well with other genuine people, whether you are very similar beyond that or not.  At the very least, you have a common bond – there’s no fakebook in either of your lives, so you can freely share the peace, harmony, joy, and confidence that comes from knowing you aren’t hiding behind a mask.