The face of God

For the last twenty years as pastor at Floradale, I said the same benediction prayer at the end of the service. It comes from the Jewish Scriptures from the book of Numbers. It is the words given to Moses by God, but they were spoken by his brother Aaron. Moses had trouble speaking in public, especially in front of King Pharaoh, so he got his brother to speak some of the tough stuff for the Israelite people.

The words go like this, “ May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you …” (Number 6:24-25 ). I would insert some other words for God, and if I forgot someone in the pastoral prayer earlier in the service, I would remember them as I spoke this benediction. There were other words I inserted like inviting God to envelope us, and sometimes I even said that God would give us a great big hug. But, essentially I would offer the same prayer for twenty years.

What did I mean when I said the “ face of God” ? God is not male or female for me, so what kind of face was I thinking, and what did the congregation hear and see when I said “ the face of God “. When I was young,  I imagined that God had a beard and the face of a white man. I do not think anyone ever told me that, but I probably got it by osmosis from Sunday School, movies and a biased sense of God. I admit that this is what I thought of God, at least in terms of seeing God.

Moses, the prophet of Israel,  says that if you see God, you will not live. Jacob, the founder of the Jewish faith, says he saw the face of God, and he was able to continue to live. So, do I really want to see the face of God, it is dangerous. But in my benediction, the prayer at the end of many Christian services, I invited God to show the face of God to everyone there. A few people told me that this prayer was the most important part of the whole service. They could leave the service ready to engage with the world. It was the same prayer every Sunday for twenty years, and yet it spoke to them in the most profound way.

When I said the words about the face of God, what did I hope the congregation would see ? A face of comfort, of hope and of peace ? Or, if it is not about a face, how did I want the people to experience the presence of God ? The face of God was to shine on all those who heard the words. Was this shining light that I was calling for, a way for the church people to be in the presence of God for the next week ?

I beleive I wanted the people to know that the presence of God would always be there for them. But, sometimes God does not seem to show up. When I am in a Tim Horton’s I look at the faces of people, and try to determine what is going on in their lives. I have no clue, but it is interesting for me to speculate. And what is on my face, the face of God ?  If people would look at my face, as I take a sip of my large dark roast coffee, what would they see ? Do I generally have a smile on my face, or do I look glum and serious ? And is my face different when I am listening to someone ? Can God been seen in my face, or your face ?

I believe that God is in all of our faces. Christ is the Light of the world, but so are we. When someone is hurting or poor or abused, we can be the hopeful  shining face of God to them. I cannot really define it, but I know when one of the followers of Jesus at Floradale was the face of God to me. It sustained me, and allowed me to find ways to be the face of God to them, and to the world.

Shalom and strength,

Fred Redekop.