Finding the Face of Jesus at the International House of Pancakes

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: 

"What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? 

A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? 

Someone dressed in soft robes?" (Lk 7.24-25)

Do not boast about wearing fine clothes, and do not exalt yourself 

when you are honored; for the works of the Lord are wonderful, 

and his works are concealed from humankind. 

Many kings have had to sit on the ground, 

but one who was never thought of has worn a crown. (Sir 11.4-5)

Fair warning: this one isn’t about my clothes.

One thing I’ve discovered it that the world of fashion…it’s exhausting. I needed a break! You didn’t really think this was all going to be about clothes, did you? I do know that some of you are anxiously awaiting my entry on the vest. All in due time, brothers and sisters.

So what is it about? Well, it is about appearances. Sort of. And that kind of fits, right? I mean, I’ve already touched upon how clothes can affect (screw with?) our perceptions of others and most certainly of ourselves. Some of this has me thinking: what is it that we see when we look at a person? I can tell you already, that I’ll probably have a lot to say about this when we get to shoes. Got a bit of shoe baggage I gotta work through…

Some background: About a year ago, after some significant spiritual reflection, I stumbled into the spiritual concept or practice of mindfulness. Now, I’m not an expert or even terribly knowledgeable, so I will spare you my ramblings on the subject. And mindfulness might give rise to all sorts of connotations for you, dear reader. So, I’ll sum it up this way: I found that I was suffering spiritually because I was always wallowing in the past (amid regrets and resentments of old) or flying around wildly in some fearful fantasy of a future. I was missing the present. In more ways than one. And if, like me, you feel that you are often not living in the present, but reacting to the past or a not-yet-realized-and-unlikely-to-actually-come-to-pass future, then mindfulness might be helpful to you.

I'd rather discuss my experience with mindfulness. After reading a book called Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh, I embarked upon the informal practice (meaning, there’s not a particular method; I just “do” it, but without really “doing” anything) of what I call meditating on the holy face of Jesus in my everyday life. To do this, all one needs to do is to look at the faces one sees in  one’s daily life—a good place to try this is in the grocery store—I mean, really look at those faces, and see if one cannot find the face of Jesus in those faces. You also have to breathe. And you have to use a little imagination—this is where appearances, or rather the looking past them, come into place. You also—per Thich Nhat Hanh’s recommendation—have to smile. Because here’s the thing: what if you really saw Jesus? I mean what would you do? I kind of think that if I really saw him, I would probably smile. I would probably do a lot of other things, but smiling would likely be near to the top of the list. If you try this meditation on the face of Jesus, you might discover Jesus presently in you midst (and you will smile, trust me). You might also experience a deep sense of humanity—your own especially. You can also try it while driving, but the whole automobile thing makes the objectification of others hard to overcome. Takes a lot more imagination. I usually end up pretending that the person who cut me off is in a hurry to get somewhere particular due to intestinal distress. Intestinal distress can be rather humanizing. So very humanizing.

So, the other day I take my kids to the International House of Pancakes. Mostly because I like to eat breakfast, and my son once declared an evening at an IHoP to have been “the best dinner” he’d ever eaten. And while we are there, my 1.5 year-old daughter starts blowing kisses to people. Now this isn’t strange to my wife or I. We spent weeks if not months teaching her this little trick. And true to what seems like basic cognitive development, our daughter has learned that when she blows kisses to anyone, she generally gets a pretty favorable reaction. She loves the way people act all crazy about a toddler blowing them kisses. She's into it.

Is this not the face of Christ?

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m prejudiced when it comes to my kids. I think most of what they do is generally an indication of the burden of genius that they will bear the rest of their days. But what struck me was her whole practice of blowing kisses. Most of these daughter-blown kisses are to complete strangers. And these kisses are indiscriminately kissed out to all sorts of folks. In fact, I’d say about 10% of those kisses, the recipient doesn’t even notice; our daughter does not care. But I also noticed really to whom she was blowing these kisses. Our daughter doesn’t just blow kisses to people who look like my wife or me.

Now before I get all wistful dad and start talking about how one day my daughter <sniff> won’t blow anymore kisses, what I really thought was so revealing about breakfast at IHoP the other day, was that I wonder if I could get back to that place spiritually, to where my daughter is now. I know my daughter’s one-and-a-half, and this is probably not a part of her mental process.

But if I were able to look in the face of a human stranger, and move beyond all assumptions and barriers based on outward appearance and also beyond my own self-consciousness, and then both experience and express the compassion and love that God is showing to all of us, I mean, if I could do that, if it could be done… Would I see God?

Well, then I would smile.