God's Face

As we prepare for the new year, what ways might you seek out the face of God in other people?

Psalm 80: 3

Restore us, O God;

let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Restoration is a tough word. I don’t trust that there is a former condition of humanity that we should return to. Idealizing the past ignores the plight of people marginalized by society and centers the goalpost on whiteness, affluence, patriarchy, gender binaries, and heterosexism. And yet, many of us when faced with difficult life seasons will idealize parts of our personal histories.

Theologically I don’t believe that there is an original state of being without sin, or that Eve had anything to do with it. Those are from the imaginations of people struggling with the realities of life—someone or some action must have caused all this pain and suffering.

So maybe the call is to be restored in our relationship to God. Inviting ourselves to be more present to God in our lives and world. Yes, that I believe would be restorative for us.

I also believe that I can be saved by God’s face sending beams of love-filled joy. And I believe that I see the face of God in other people every day.

As we prepare for the new year, what ways might you seek out the face of God in other people?

— Jenny Whitcher