Everyone needs a God with a face

Children drag their mothers to the ice cream man selling ice cream out of a large ice chest. Inside, an elderly priest speaks words of inspiration and encouragement to a full church. A younger man helps him rise to his feet to lead the people in prayer.

It is raining and I sit in a park under a tree in Cuenca, Ecuador on Tuesday morning. I try to imagine life 3,000 years ago. I think of the vases, pots, and whistling vessels dated from 1500 BC to 500 AD in the museum we just visited. Many of them had faces including eyes, a nose, a mouth and ears.

Why put faces on pots and vessels? You won’t find any pots or vessels with faces in my home? What is the significance of the face?

There were statutes of the devil which had faces and statutes of shamans which had faces. The shaman’s mouths were open as though they were speaking with great animation.

My mind returns to the tall cathedral in front of me, towering over the trees. Does it have a face? Above the main archway are two angels with faces looking down at everyone below. Jesus is at the center. He too has a face and is looking down.

Under the archway are many faces – children, parents, tourists, business men and women, an elderly man sitting on the steps talking to a friend. Taxi drivers and others also pass by never noticing the faces looking down at them. I too would have missed these faces had it not started to rain and I sought shelter under a tree.

I reflect back to the Orthodox monk high atop the rocks in Greece who told me with great excitement, “Our God has a face!” In Jesus Christ, we see God’s face.

I think of Paul’s words to those worshiping idols. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.”

Everyone needs a God with a face. But a face is not enough. The pots, vessels, shamans and devils had faces but their eyes could not see, their ears could not hear, and their mouths could not speak.

In contrast, God has a face with eyes that see us, ears that hear us, and a mouth that speaks to us. What a privilege to know such a God! And what a calling and responsibility we have to share this God with others who are seeking gods that see, hear and speak.

This is a personal and real God – a God like no other god!