The Color of God

A friend once remarked me that grace is blue. After my initial surprise at this slightly odd statement, I pondered upon why he said this.

What is to follow is a window into my ponderings, for I think that the rabbit trail they follow leads to a valuable conclusion. But ye warned, this is my rabbit’s trail and they do not always follow the railroad tracks. Some might object to the impending verbosity, to which I say what good is a destination if you don’t know how you got there? However, if your concern lies solely with the end, there is nothing but good sense to stop you from just scrolling down to the last paragraph.

My first response to my friend’s rather abrupt statement was “Can an attribute of God have color? Isn’t He spirit which, by all definitions I have ever encountered outside of fantasy literature, has no color?” But I do not think my friend was talking literally. Therefore, let us journey into the wonderful land that is metaphor where much can be made clearer which cannot be fleshed in the land of science.

What is color? Aside from the definition of light waves reflecting in various patterns, color is how we express ourselves. For example, Goths have claimed the color black. Why? Sadness, evil, rebellion, angst…all of these emotions which are the foundation of the Goth mindset connect with that color. (Now I have nothing against the color black, or Goths, for that matter; this is simply an observation on the use of color by people with certain tendencies. Back to the scheduled rabbit trail…) The Goth affinity to this color makes sense given that black for the Western world is the color of mourning. As an interesting side note, in Asia mourning’s color is white, though I dare not make any conjecture as to why, being wholly unqualified.

My point, as it may have gotten lost, is that our minds connect certain colors to certain emotions or states of being. Personages more schooled and scholarly than I am have undoubtedly spent hours as well as forests speculating why, so I will not do so here. Except to say that I do not think it is as strange as some might like to think.

After all, the same thing is done with words. We have all played the word association game in which one person says a word and another says the first thing that word makes them think of. How could one word draw up such colorful responses if there was no emotion, whatever it may be, connected in the responder’s mind to that otherwise meaningless string of sounds? We connect our emotions to things, be they words or colors, sights or sounds.

Here we reach a difficult ledge. As with all connections our minds make, there are always exceptions and caveats, because concepts are too unwieldy to be contained by single words and words are too useful to be restricted to single ideas. Going back to our example of black is an example of the latter for black is also the color for classy. See “little black dress.”

But, with God, it is the former. Because He is the Creator. And because He created everything, He is above everything. And because He is above everything, no one thing below Him or even conglomeration of things can fully describe Him. However, they can partially reveal Who He is because He created them and therefore left a mark on them.

When Moses asked for a name to take back to Pharaoh, he received a statement of being, which became the most sacred name for God in the Old Testament. But it still does not encompass completely Who He is. Throughout the rest of the Scriptures, God continually gives His people names for Himself.

If God can have names why not colors?

Now that we have that established, why is grace blue? Not any color of blue, the shade of blue the sky is when there is no storm on the horizon, the sun is shining, and all that is ahead is the promise of a good day. It makes sense, for that is what grace is…God has taken my sin and guilt away; He has given His Son; He has made me new. Perhaps that is why going to the park on a Saturday and lying on the grass, looking up at the sky is so relaxing.

I think the problem I often have with grace is that I begin to go about my life in this new day and forget to look up at the sky. I leave my house, go to work and come back home, forgetting that all the while the sky is blue. I remember that Christ has taken the punishment for my sin, but I forget that guilt has been washed away as well. If guilt were to remain, the sky would be grey. I think that I must work off my guilt. But that is not the color of grace; it is a gift, just like a good park day, and I can no more earn it than I can a day of pleasant weather with clear skies. But I can enjoy it to its fullest, and that is exactly what I must do with grace, to praise God for it in every way I can and to encourage others to do the same.

Yes, grace is blue.
And love is green.
That one, dear reader, I shall leave to you to ponder that one down your own rabbit trails.

Portrait of the Soul

If there were anyone ever living that I could have a picture of, it would be Jesus. Not so I could make a golden calf of it, though the probably blasphemous—please forgive me, Lord—mental image of a calf statue with Jesus’ face tied to its face is slightly humorous. And not just any picture, since this is wishes, a portrait. Whether black and white or color, I have not yet decided, probably the former. But, as one wiser than I has said, “If wishes were horses, we’d all be eating steak.”

Why would I want a portrait of Jesus? Not to put Him in the church directory (what a coup that would be!). I would want to study it, His face that is. Would it be as I imagine…His skin weathered from years outdoors, His eyes full of love and sorrow, His shoulders stout as a Man who is confident in Who He is? Would He have the beginnings of crow’s feet from laughter?

I have a theory that the soul of a person can be seen in their face. And a corollary to my little pet theory (of which this is only one) that the soul is most often and best seen in portraits. We are constantly on the move…hither, thither and yon. But a portrait stops us for that moment in time and, if the person is honest with the camera, we catch a glimpse of their soul. Don’t believe me? Go look at Steve McCurry’s “Afghan Girl.”

Faces tell us something about a person…what is in their eyes, how they hold their head, the lines in their face. A portrait captures that in a way other medias cannot. Granted, my theory may be influenced by the fact that we are an imaged based culture. But images have long been important in cultures across the globe and through the centuries. They made their appearance in different ways then they do today. For example, we pin up posters of our favorite actors instead of carving them out of marble. My point, however, is that the image is not something unique to American culture. How it is interpreted, perhaps, but the value of a picture to capture what is there before us is universal.

Since I cannot get a picture of Jesus, my next wish would be to have a picture of everyone He has changed. Christ living in us makes a mark on our soul, and if my soul can be seen in a portrait, it stands to reason the perhaps we may glimpse God in the faces of our fellow believers. Now stop right there. I am in no way leaning toward the belief that all of us are God or any other such nonsense. I am more speaking toward how God works in our lives. It is His love that I see shining out of the eyes of His disciples, His joy on their lips.

In January, I have a chance to try my theory out. I am going to join a research team in India as they glean the testimonies of women believers. My role will be that of the photographer. To which the answer to the next question of “Am I a professional photographer?” is no. But I love to take pictures. Why? See above discussion.

Why am I going on this team? First, I firmly believe that every believer has a story to tell about how God has worked in their life. Where God is, there is always a lesson to learn, both about Who He is and how we are live according to that truth. Testimonies open the door to those lessons, and pictures open that door even further. Second, at my church, we recently finished studying through the book of Acts. One reflection many of the congregation have observed is the significance Luke places on the unity of the church, especially demonstrated through loving care for fellow believers. I believe one way of living the love Luke was writing about is found in listening to and learning from the stories of God’s people. I want to love God better and love His people better, and this is a way He has given me to do so.

Please pray for me as I prepare to go.