Seeing Creation

“My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’  Your face, Lord, I will seek.” Psalm 27:8

There are a number of places in the Scriptures where we are encouraged to seek God’s face.  To seek God’s face is to seek God.  But just where are we supposed to look.  In his beautiful book, Praying with the Earth, John Philip Newell encourages us to look for God’s face in the world around us.  He writes: “Whichever way we turn, O God, there is your face in the light of the moon and patterns of stars, in scarred mountain rifts and ancient groves, in mighty seas and creatures of the deep.  Whichever way we turn, O God, there is your face, O God, there is your face in the light of eyes we love, in the salt of tears we have tasted, in weathered countenances east and west, in the soft skin glow of the child everywhere.  Whichever way we turn, O God, there is your face, there is your face among us.”

Whereas some would say God’s face cannot be seen, others would posit that God’s face is everywhere for those with eyes to see.  One of those persons who was able to see God everywhere was the recently deceased poet, Mary Oliver.  I would love to have eyes like Mary Oliver had.  I believe she saw God’s face in trees, flowers, birds, her beloved dogs, snakes, otters, deer, and children.  I believe she saw God’s face whichever way she turned.

I want to share with you a poem from my favorite Mary Oliver book, Thirst.  It’s called “Making the House Ready for the Lord.”  “Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed but still nothing is as shining as it should be for you.  Under the sink, for example, is an uproar of mice—it is the season of their many children.  What shall I do?  And under the eaves and through the walls the squirrels have gnawed their ragged entrances—but it is the season when they need shelter, so what shall I do?  And the raccoon limps into the kitchen and opens the cupboard while the dog snores, the cat hugs the pillow; what shall I do?  Beautiful is the snow falling in the yard and the fox who is staring boldly up the path, to the door.  And still I believe you will come, Lord: you will, when I speak to the fox, the sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering sea-goose, know that really I am speaking to you whenever I say, as I do all morning and afternoon: Come in, Come in.”

Mary Oliver’s poems, along with John Philip Newell’s prayers, John Muir’s writings, and the Scriptures themselves, have taught me that God’s face can be seen in the world of nature and in the faces of those closest to me.  I am very grateful to have had such good teachers.  They have affected how I look at things and how I photograph.  They have enabled me to see far more than I would have otherwise. Admittedly, I still do not see all I could or all I hope to, but I have seen enough to conclude that the face of God is indeed everywhere and that it is beautiful—more beautiful than the tongue can tell.

–Chuck

In Psalm 27:8 David says “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’  Your face, Lord, I will seek.”  The idea of seeking God’s face has always intrigued me.  What exactly does this mean?  In biblical thought, to seek someone’s face is to seek to enter that person’s presence.  Therefore, to seek God’s face is to seek God’s presence.  Needless to say, there are lots of ways one can seek God’s presence.  One may attempt to do so through reading the Scriptures, prayer, meditation, worship, and service.  One may also seek God’s face through the Creation.  I was reminded of this fact recently while reading John Philip Newell’s beautiful book, Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace.

In Newell’s book one will find this prayer: “Whichever way we turn, O God, there is your face in the moon and patterns of stars, in scarred mountain rifts and ancient groves, in mighty seas and creatures of the deep. Whichever way we turn, O God, there is your face in the light of eyes we love, in the salt of tears we have tasted, in weathered countenances east and west, in the soft skin glow of the child everywhere.  Whichever way we turn, O God, there is your face; there is your face among us.”

The Scriptures declare that God does, in fact, make Himself known through His Creation. It only makes sense, then, that we can seek God’s face in the world around us.  In nature we experience something of the glory of God.  In the created order we can feel God’s presence.  For the one with eyes to see, “whichever way we turn” we can see the face of God.

If what Newell says is true, why, then, do we not see God’s face or experience God’s presence more often? I suspect there are a couple of answers.  First, we may forget that God’s face is revealed in the world around us.  This is not something that gets stressed very often in churches.  Second, we tend to be in a rush as we move through the world these days.  Rushing to and fro we are not likely to see much of anything.  We would all be wise to slow down and pay more attention.  Doing so will put us in a better position to seek God’s face and experience the wonder, mystery and awe of God’s presence.

–Chuck