NIGHT PRAYER: Friday 2/16

Night Prayer on Fridays in Lent will focus on different images of the face of Jesus.  We have no historically accurate image or record of Jesus' personal appearance but you might be interested in Matt Baker's video which traces some of the earliest artwork depicting Christ. Jesus is the Word of God incarnate (enfleshed) and so it's entirely appropriate for us to wonder about his human appearance and the endless variety of artists' depictions of Christ can be a rich source of prayer for us. I hope this Lenten series of Night Prayer might draw us closer to Jesus.

The image above is the work of Richard Neave, who used forensic anthropology to create this composite of a first century Jewish man in the Galilee area of northern Israel.  While Neave does not offer this image as a portrait of Jesus, it's likely a more accurate representation of the Lord's face than what we're accustomed to in religious art.

Although I don't know what you look like, Lord,

    I hope and pray that one day

        I'll see you face to face,

            that I'll see you as you are...

But suppose when that time comes I find

    you're not what I expected?

    you look nothing like I'd pictured?

    that your beauty's of a kind and depth 

        I never had imagined?

You see, I have, I hold, in my mind's eye 

    an image of your face, Lord,

    of how your gaze would take me in,

    of how your eyes would pierce my own,

    of how I pray you'd smile 

        as friends do when they meet...

 

How easily it slips my mind,  

    how often I forget, Lord,

that your face is there in every face 

    of all whose paths cross mine;

that your eyes behold me every time

    my neighbor's gaze meets mine;

that you smile upon me, night and day,

    with mercy, peace and love...

The more I seek your holy face 

    in faces all around me;

the more I find your piercing gaze 

     in those who need my help;

the more I smile on everyone 

    whose spirits I might lift:

the sooner will I know the joy 

    of meeting face to face

with you, my Lord, my God, my all,

    whose face I long to see...

Show me your face, Lord

    and let my eyes meet yours;

show me your face, Lord,

    and hold me in your gaze;

show me your face, Lord,

    and smile upon my soul...

 

Show me your face, Lord,

    in all its simple beauty,

    and with all its healing mercy

    bright with glory, light and peace...

    

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

    and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

    and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

Look and See the Face of Christ  by Marty Haugen

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In the ones who have no bread,

in the parched who faint for water,

in the ones who mourn their dead,

look and see the face of Christ

 

In the homeless refugee,

in the stranger and the alien

fleeing desperate poverty,

look and see the face of Christ who said…

 

I was hungry and you gave me food

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

I was naked and you shared your clothes,

I was the stranger that you welcomed in

 

In the ones diseased, distressed,

seeking comfort, seeking company,

the imprisoned and oppressed,

look and see the face of Christ

 

In the ones who have no home,

those who sleep on street and alleyway,

in the ones who die alone,

look and see the face of Christ who said…

 

Chorus

 

I was sick and you cared for me,

locked in prison, you came to me,

what you did for the least of these,

you did it unto me

 

Chorus

 

All who yearn for God’s rich grace,

all who seek the new Jerusalem:

Look and see! Where in each face

is the image of the Christ, who said…

Chorus

 

 

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