"The Face in the Sky"
I am participating in a small group where we are discussing Frederick Buechner's book The Hungering Dark. Our first session covered the chapter, "The Face in the Sky." It has been so long since I've posted on My Reality, that I thought it might be time to start up again.
One of the first points that our group discussed comes on page 13:
I think that is much of what the Christian faith is. It is for a moment, just for a little while, seeing the face and being still, that is all. There is so much about the whole religious enterprise that seems superannuated and irrelevant and as out of place in our age as an antique statue is out of place in the sky.
Buechner is referring to a scene from the movie La Dolce Vita when a statue of Christ sails beneath a helicopter. As the camera focuses in on the face of the statue, Buechner describes the theater as falling silent.
Our discussion began with the thought that Buechner may be off in his belief about Christianity. That, if the Christian faith is only about some striking moment, then why bother with the long held belief that Christ is present all of the time and in every moment.
But later, Buechner writes:
If holiness and the awful power and majesty of God were present in this least auspicious of all events, this birth of a peasant's child, then there is no place or time so lowly and earthbound but that holiness can be present there too.
And just like that, Buechner brings us to the heart of this chapter. We must learn to recognize that Face, whether it is in the sky, dancing in the night, or whether it happens across us in the foul mouthed beggar in need of so much more than the dime we can spare.
We are never safe, Buechner warns, from this God we choose to believe in, or have trouble believing in; because if God will make himself earthbound in such a silly place as that barn must have been, there is no moment "that holiness" cannot also be present.
And so, what if we took this to heart, you and I? What if we began to recognize that Face in the hundreds of faces we stare through on our way through our own life? And what if in recognizing that Face, and the incongruity of the world around us, we also suffered terrible doubt about the veracity of it all? That maybe it isn't true after all?
I wonder how that might change the way people view us--you know, if we were honest once in awhile about our own experiences with the people we wish to bring to Christ. Buechner writes, "But what of those who both believe and do not believe, cannot believe--which is some men all of the time and all men some of the time?" Would such honesty make us more human, more real to the world around us? That Face in the sky or in the crowd is the same Face for us all to see. The difference is only in what we actually do with it.
One of the first points that our group discussed comes on page 13:
I think that is much of what the Christian faith is. It is for a moment, just for a little while, seeing the face and being still, that is all. There is so much about the whole religious enterprise that seems superannuated and irrelevant and as out of place in our age as an antique statue is out of place in the sky.
Buechner is referring to a scene from the movie La Dolce Vita when a statue of Christ sails beneath a helicopter. As the camera focuses in on the face of the statue, Buechner describes the theater as falling silent.
Our discussion began with the thought that Buechner may be off in his belief about Christianity. That, if the Christian faith is only about some striking moment, then why bother with the long held belief that Christ is present all of the time and in every moment.
But later, Buechner writes:
If holiness and the awful power and majesty of God were present in this least auspicious of all events, this birth of a peasant's child, then there is no place or time so lowly and earthbound but that holiness can be present there too.
And just like that, Buechner brings us to the heart of this chapter. We must learn to recognize that Face, whether it is in the sky, dancing in the night, or whether it happens across us in the foul mouthed beggar in need of so much more than the dime we can spare.
We are never safe, Buechner warns, from this God we choose to believe in, or have trouble believing in; because if God will make himself earthbound in such a silly place as that barn must have been, there is no moment "that holiness" cannot also be present.
And so, what if we took this to heart, you and I? What if we began to recognize that Face in the hundreds of faces we stare through on our way through our own life? And what if in recognizing that Face, and the incongruity of the world around us, we also suffered terrible doubt about the veracity of it all? That maybe it isn't true after all?
I wonder how that might change the way people view us--you know, if we were honest once in awhile about our own experiences with the people we wish to bring to Christ. Buechner writes, "But what of those who both believe and do not believe, cannot believe--which is some men all of the time and all men some of the time?" Would such honesty make us more human, more real to the world around us? That Face in the sky or in the crowd is the same Face for us all to see. The difference is only in what we actually do with it.
posted by Mr. McNamar at 4:24 PM
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