The Indispensable Face

We built a temple out of logic and mist To a God of the clouds, an abstract abyss We sought a "Cosmic Love," a benign energy Hiding from the Eyes that would truly see But the Law wasn’t written for a formless void Or a ghost in the machine that the mind employed The Commandment echoes from the mountain of flint: "Seek no other Presence than the One I have sent."

The Bread on the table, the Angel in the fire The Face in the whirlwind, the soul’s one desire You said, "Seek My Face," through the veil of the years Now the Face has a Name, and it’s washing our tears.

There is no God apart from Your Face! The Invisible One in a human embrace Not a concept, not a theory, not a phantom of grace But the Carpenter’s hands and the King’s holy gaze Oh, Philip, don’t you know? To see the Son is to see the Throne! Jesus, the Face of the Father.

The God of the scholars is a cold, distant light But the God of the fishermen walks through the night It’s a scandal of flesh, it’s a stumbling stone That the Infinite speaks with a tongue like our own You’re the veil that protects us from the burning sun Yet the mirror where the Father and the Child are one No more spiritual hiding in a sophisticated haze I’m fixing my eyes on the Ancient of Days.

Panim! Panim! (The Face! The Face!) From the wrestling at the river to the Cross on the hill Panim! Panim! The Image of the Invisible, standing here still Don’t look past Him to the stars The Creator has scars! The Creator has scars!

There is no God apart from Your Face! The Invisible One in a human embrace Not a concept, not a theory, not a phantom of grace But the Carpenter’s hands and the King’s holy gaze Oh, Philip, don’t you know? To see the Son is to see the Throne! Jesus, the Face of the Father.

No other gods before You... No other gods apart from the Son... I’m looking at You. And I’m finally seeing Him.