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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.
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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.
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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?”)
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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.
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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.
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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.
![The Coleman Glacier at Heliotrope Divide, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington](https://live.staticflickr.com/5586/15218241955_10597dbb87.jpg)
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.
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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.