Methodist Bishop

Exodus 33.18-34.8, Romans 8.31-39 Moses asked to see God in all his glory. God granted his request but said that, unfortunately, it would be fatal to look upon his face. 'You will see my back,’ he promised, ‘[But] you will not see my face.’ Christians can sometimes be a bit condescending about this. Unlike Moses we do get to see God face to face, at least in the face of Jesus. But there again, do we actually know what Jesus looked like? The Methodist  Prayer Handbook this year has the face of Jesus on the front cover, but it isn't just a picture of one face; instead it’s a composite of four very different faces of Jesus. He’s at once both familiar, with a face like ours, and impossible to know. The Welsh poet R S Thomas, who was a priest in the Church of Wales, said that God is very difficult to see. ‘ We never catch him at work ,’ Thomas said. It's always as if he’s just left the room. In the film ' Whistle Down the Wind ’ some children walk to an isolated...