Face values

Face coverings or masks will be compulsory from next week for users of public transport. Britain has been slow to introduce this requirement. The British don't take easily to the instruction to cover their faces.

Here, as in much of Europe, the inability to see a face tends to cause unease. Ten years ago the wearing of face veils by Muslim women was a hot issue. Faces covered by burqas or niqabs could not easily be identified. Wearers were viewed with suspicion. Political debates became heated. Britain resisted a ban on face coverings while other countries introduced laws that proved difficult to enforce.

Facial recognition is a key element in identification. Masks and helmets have long been used by criminals to conceal their identity. Photos, ID parades, CCTV and now facial recognition technology are all used by police to identify suspects. Initial identification begins with the recognition of an individual face. From next week that may not be an option.

Christians worship an unseen God who reveals himself in human form. For centuries artists and film makers have created images of the face of Christ. None would help us pick Jesus out in an ID parade. No-one knows what he looked like. Yet for over two thousand years millions of human individuals have trusted and believed that Jesus was just who he said he was.

Faces matter but they don't tell us everything.

World on fire

Sunday 31 May 2020 was Pentecost Sunday. On the day when Christians celebrate the moving of God's Spirit in fire and wind parts of our world were literally on fire. Anger following the death of George Floyd six days earlier brought civil unrest to the USA. Over the weekend protesters took to the streets in of London, Cardiff and Manchester. In the wake of a killing believed by many to be the result of racial prejudice, frustration and anger led to the flouting of rules and restrictions imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19. While in Britain the protests were largely peaceful, the streets of many American cities continue to burn.

Pentecost Sunday this year was a subdued affair. There were no services of celebration. The Ecumenical gatherings and large events that have become common in recent years did not take place. No visible signs of God's Spirit moving among believers as happened on a distant day in Jerusalem were apparent.

Yet God is still at work. Despite the closure of churches and the banning of larger events Christian communities continue not only to pray but to live out the faith passed down through the centuries. In acts of kindness, in the daily work to which each is called, in family and community life, God's spirit is at work.

Pentecost is just one day. It is what happens next that might just set the world on fire.