Thought for the Day - Wednesday 17 June

Thought for the Day – Wednesday 17^th June

‘Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’ (Genesis 1: 26-27)

‘O God, we bear the imprint of your face:

the colour of our skin are your design,

and what we have of beauty in our race

as man or woman, you alone define,

who stretched a living fabric on our frame

and gave to each a language and a name.’ (CH4 Hymn 254 v 1) Shirley Erena Murray © Hope Publishing Company

The world with social distancing within it has definitely brought much change! I have been undertaking so many of my ministry meetings virtually – so I am meeting with colleagues via Zoom and last night I took part in the usual monthly meeting of Presbytery but this time virtually, using something called MS Teams.

I have to say, while I know this way of working is a necessity at the moment and perhaps the way of the future for some situations, as a people person who feels the relational aspect of ministry and actually meeting with people to build those relationships is so important I am not a great fan of meeting in such a way. By the way, I do acknowledge that my feelings of reluctance may stem partly from the fact that I am not ‘au fait’ with all the technology and so I do find the time delays and connection problems a little frustrating!

However, and I know this may sound flippant, but what I also find off-putting is the fact that on these meetings you are faced with a whole host of faces – including your own – staring back at you all the time! Normally you would see these faces at a little distance when in a meeting but on these meetings you are ‘up close and personal’ and not only that but you can see what everyone is up to while on the meeting – so some are ‘footering’ away in the background or with things on their desks and some spend all the time on their phone and some are drinking their tea or having a biscuit and you see it all and it can be a distraction from the business of the meeting!

However, getting past those distractions, it is actually wonderful to see all those faces spread out before you on your screen because it highlights the very fact that each face is so different, each face portrays a skin tone subtly different in colour, each face is framed by a different head of hair – some none at all; each face displays different features and is full of character and portrays a life lived and so much more.

Importantly though, in that array of faces on the screen we are seeing in each one an image of God.

We are told in our text that we were made in the image of God and our hymn verse tells us we bear the imprint of his face. The very colour of our skin, the delicate features of our face, even the way we speak and the language we use were all designed by God they are all part of that ‘living fabric’ stretched over our frame.

So, next time I have to have a Zoom or MS Teams meeting I can assure you I will be listening to the meeting, I may be a little distracted by what folk are doing while on the meeting but I will also be thinking and remembering the words of our text and hymn above that each face I see in front of me including my own bears an imprint of God’s face. Hopefully, when next you look at someone’s face you will be thinking that too!

Prayer

Loving Lord,

Give us the eyes to see your image and imprint in each face we encounter and as we gaze on another’s face may we marvel at the uniqueness of that face, yet, not dwell on the differences but rather focus on the part of you they portray. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen