face of god
Image via Joshua Conrad Jackson, Neil Hester, Kurt Gray, and University of North Carolina -Chapel Hill.
The overall composite image of God’s face that resulted from the selections has a few obvious features. The face is masculine, white, and young. These features stand out best in comparison with what the researchers call God’s “anti-face,” a composite of all of the images in each pair participants did not choose. This anti-face was more feminine, older, and darker skinned.
Palestinian children, Dona_Bozzi / Shutterstock.com
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, God calls us to love and show compassion to the stranger, particularly those who suffer. But first, they must become real to us. And there is nothing more viscerally real, perhaps, than the face of a dead child.
Is it possible to let our hearts by broken by the dead children of our enemy? Is our God big enough to allow us to imagine that God loves those we fear and despise?
Not until, I believe, they have faces.
Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza – though religious fervor is alive and well in these embattled areas, loathing, horror, and hatred seem to reign, darkness to rule. In the grim night, we cannot see each other’s faces.
Crowd of people walking, Kichigin / Shutterstock.com
Did you see what happened in Louisiana over the weekend? A 26-year-old man was driving his pickup truck over a causeway on Lake Pontchartrain. His truck plunged over the railing and into the water.
What happened next is inspiring.