April 26, 2023
“It Was Good to See His FaceAgain:”A Prayer
O Lord, it was good to see his face again, or so I told the doctor
when he walked in not wearing a mask, that
it was good to
see his face again,
see his face after nearly three years of
not seeing his face,
seeing only a covered face,
seeing only his eyes,
seeing only a
mask,
could have been anyone,
not the doctor who
saved my life;
seeing him a couple of times maskless on a screen, but
somehow not real,
not the same as
in person,
in the flesh,
in front of me;
and that’s
what I need
when talking
life and death,
someone real,
see a face
face to face,
so I can
watch his face,
study his face,
read his face,
know what his face
saying about what facing;
and
wanted to
see his face
because his face a
genuinely caring face, a
face I trust, a
face that helps me
face whatever must face, the
face of someone I feel close to; and so,
it was good
to see his face again;
and it’s been good
to see again the faces of many members
after nearly three years of
not seeing faces,
not really seeing people,
not knowing people known for years;
hard to preach to masks,
can’t read faces, not sure
what thinking,
how reacting,
if reaching;
but worse,
masks saying
keep your distance (don’t hug me),
don’t come too close (don’t breathe on me),
stay away from me (don’t cough near me),
don’t want to catch anything from you,
don’t want to give anything to you; and
that’s the thing about masks,
can’t give a smile, or
catch a smile;
can’t give a kind look, or
catch a kind look;
can’t give a joyous grin, or
catch a joyous grin;
and so,
even though masks saved lives, still save lives,
rightly mandated, rightly worn, rightly used, still,
good to see faces again,
people people again,
close again.
And yet, Lord, as good as it is not to have to wear a mask,
still, we often
wear masks when
not wearing masks,
our faces
the masks we wear;
every morning putting on our faces
like my mother said she was putting on her face, her make-up,
and so we make up a face to put on,
a happy face to hide our unhappiness,
a smiley face to hide our pain,
a just fine face to hide that we are
far from fine;
so many faces to choose from, faces meant to
project a self,
protect a self,
perpetuate a self;
but sometimes
no masks worn, people’s faces seen,
twisted by hate,
screwed up in rage,
contorted by cruelty,
frightening faces; but
not just them,
us as well,
the face of anger or bitterness or even hate we
see in the mirror before we
put on our face, the
mask we wear.
O Lord, that’s most of us for the most part most of the time,
confusion of face,
not sure what is
our true face;
but you know, and
before you we need not pretend,
your love and forgiveness giving us the courage to
take off our masks (what a relief),
your love and forgiveness giving us the strength to
face what we are and are not (weight lifted),
your love and forgiveness giving us a
new face,
the face of kindness,
the face of compassion,
the face of faith and hope and love;
and that is my prayer, that in
your love for us and
our love for you
the face seen in
our face
will be
the face of someone who belongs to you,
the face of someone who is truly human,
the very face
of Christ.
And we pray again, Lord, for the families and friends of the
victims slaughtered in mass shootings because again
there’s been a mass massacre and again
people are grieving a grief like no other;
and we pray for all who grieve, those battling disease, those
suffering and hurting, those who are dying, those
struggling with depression and for the
hungry and homeless and refugees.
Be with them, console them, strengthen them, ease their pain,
comfort and lift them in hope!
And give us the determination
not to let the politicians rest
until they actually do something
to end the madness.
O Lord, if ever we have stood in the airport waiting for
someone to arrive, watching
the clumps of people coming off the escalator,
scanning the faces, searching for
the one face among all the faces
we want to see,
smiling big smile
when seen,
then we know how good it can be to see someone’s face; it’s
what we long to see,
a face,
a loved face,
the face that puts a gladness within us
like no other face, except
your face,
the face we have loved
in the faces of others,
the face we long to see
face to face at last,
no masks,
no doubts,
no confusion,
all revealed,
the scariness of it,
the relief of it,
the joy of it,
how good it would be!
Amen.