TOPIC:“Stephen - The Man With the Angelic Face”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
“And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him,
saw his face as it had been the face of an angel” (6:15)
Many years ago a national magazine printed a charming poem entitled, “I Have Seen A Thousand Faces” by J. P. Folinsbee. Time does not allow me to read every line of the poem, but listen to the first stanza:
“I have seen a thousand faces, old and young;
More eloquent than words, each speaks to me;
Not on their lips, but in their eyes is sung
The sorrow and the song of life's brief melody.”
What the author is setting forth here is that your face has a message to tell. Following the first refrain, the author places before his readers pictures of faces that he has observed by his careful inspection. Faces that speak of wonder and amazement. Faces which show forth the glory of innocence, together with the rough-hewn face of time. Faces of courage, of strain, of grief, and then coming to the end of his poem, listen as he writes of faces he will never forget:
“I have seen a thousand faces, all the rest are lost,
Like blades of grass that crowd upon a sod;
And, of a thousand passed, these I remember best -
The quiet faces, brushed by the waiting hands of God.”
. . .