Face to Face

I’m still thinking about my ten-year-old self and all the Sundays I counted the knots in the wood on the ceiling of First United Methodist in Anchorage, Alaska,

because some of you are probably wondering why I wasn’t able to connect with the Most Holy Trinity by gazing upon all those nicely finished planks.

Of course, age and maturity would have certainly helped, but there are also spiritual traditions in which you can focus on just about anything—or nothing at all—and enter into a contemplative state.

But there’s also a fundamental difference between entering into a contemplative state and connecting with the Most Holy Trinity. In contemplation, you can lower your metabolism and ground yourself in reality and experience unity with All That Is—and those are all really good things. But when we connect with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are interacting with a Triunity of Persons.

And when we interact with a Person—even if that Person is One of the Most holy Trinity—we need to see a Face.

Here’s how the Holy Prophet David puts it:

“My heart said unto Thee: I will seek the Lord. My face hath sought after Thee; Thy face, O Lord, will I seek.” (Ps 26.9)

Here’s how the Holy Prophet Moses puts it:

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord makes His face shine upon you and be merciful unto you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6. 24-26)

And, then, there’s this amazing statement by the Apostle Paul:

“For God Who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.” (2 Corinthians 4.6)

Here in Orthodox Land, we’re actually celebrating that connection today, Sunday, March 1. It’s the First Sunday in Great Lent, and, on that particular Sunday, we always observe what’s called the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

That’s where we commemorate the restoration of icons to the Church. Those images were actually banned from Christian worship for close to 150 years, but in 843, that prohibition was officially lifted on the first Sunday of the Fast, and, ever since then, we’ve celebrated that event on that same Sunday.

We will have a procession that winds all around our five acres. We will carry icons and banners. We will sing hymns. When we get back inside, we will all recite a portion of the proclamation that was issued on 843:

“As the prophets beheld, as the Apostles have taught... as the Church has received... as the teachers have dogmatized... as the Universe has agreed... as Grace has shown forth... as Truth has revealed... as falsehood has been dissolved... as Wisdom has presented... as Christ awarded... thus we declare... thus we assert... thus we preach Christ our true God, and honor as Saints in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in churches, in Holy Icons; on the one hand worshiping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord; and on the other hand honoring as true servants of the same Lord of all and accordingly offering them veneration…This is the Faith of the Apostles, this is the Faith of the Fathers, this is the Faith of the Orthodox, this is the Faith which has established the Universe.”

We increase the volume as we read that passage together. In fact, by the time we get to the last sentence, everyone is shouting.

It’s just a whole lot of fun.

But as you can see from that passage, we do not believe that icons are an optional part of the Faith. In Holy Orthodoxy, we teach that seeing the Face of our Lord and Master is every bit as important as hearing His Words. Because if the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity truly became one of us, that means there is now a human face at the very heart of all reality.

And that’s what was missing from my childhood in Protestant World. It was very much an Old Testament kind of piety, because, just like the People of Israel at Mt. Sinai, I “heard the sound of the words”, but I “saw no form”; I “only heard a voice” (Deuteronomy 4.12). However, as an Orthodox Christian, my hope is that, through the Holy Icons, I will learn to see “face to face” and, through that connection, “I will know even as I am also known” (I Corinthians 13.12).

But I also have hope for the knots in the wood that I spent so much time looking at all those years ago. Because even in my distraction, even with my ten-year-old attention span, there was still an element of love buried deep down in that gaze. And when we bestow our love on the natural world, it also acquires a face.

There’s a wonderful book by Donald Sheehan called The Grace of Incorruption. In that book, Donald comments on the opening verses of Genesis, and he points out that

“In his movement of creatively self-emptying love, the Holy Spirit of God bestows countenance upon the waters. And when we enter into that conscious relation to the created world known as Orthodox ascetic practice, we also, “with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3.17). Thus, entering into the likeness of God, we become able to bestow His countenance upon the created world…” (pp 57-58)

Is that cool, or what?

Because what that means is that our new temple is going to be a place where people can come Face to Face with Christ Jesus in and through the Holy Icons. But, after those folks leave, they will also be able to share that countenance with others—and not only with other people, but also with Bombay cats and with the sunlight and with cottonwood trees and with mockingbirds.

So, to paraphrase St John: The more we “see Him as He is”, the more “we will be like Him” (I John 3.2)—and that ‘we’ includes the Whole Creation.

And don’t you want to help make that happen?

Of course, you do!

The very best way to support us is through your prayers (Akathist for a New Temple: PDF/video).

But we also have a lot of other supportive options.

You can sign up for a paid subscription or restack this post or pick up a CSSB T shirt or commission an image in the Calming Room of our new temple or donate directly to our Building Fund.

We’ll go ahead and wish you all a good second week of the Fast, as we sign off with some music that is a lovely description of the world in which we live and that also points clearly to the goal towards which we are processing.

Take it away, Louis.