The Faces of God

So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury. –Rev 14:19

Yipes! I was lucky enough to grow up with a Loving God in my life. I have heard horror stories about the Judgmental God scaring and repelling others in their youth. Because of this a relationship with God is difficult and painful. Thankfully this Judgmental God is not my first thought, but He most certainly is real. In my local Catholic Church I don’t hear too much about this part of God. I wonder if this is not fostering a namby pamby idea of the Creator, something like those wimpy religious images of Christ. In my work with icons I learned about Christ Pantocrator (a word that closely means Omnipotent), the great visual of God on the ceilings of the Orthodox churches. In the sixth century someone ‘wrote’ an icon that seemed to encapsulate both the judgmental and the loving aspects of God. The face of Christ seems to be divided in two. The left side has a fierce eye and countenance: the all-seeing eye of God. You can run but you can’t hide! And the right eye seems to look upon the viewer with love and acceptance. An Orthodox priest told me penitents look at an image of this icon while in Reconciliation. The priest stands behind the penitent with his hand on his or her shoulder. God knows all and God loves us anyway.

I pray to know all of the aspects of God. May my fears not keep me from the Truth.