Almost exactly one month ago today, I had the great honor of taking some group photos of a local choral group here in town "The Quire of Voyces" whom I am a big fan of. If you ever catch wind of them holding a concert, I encourage you to attend. You will LOVE them!
They asked me to take a group photo as they wanted to use something for promotional purposes, so I gave them the photo above, which was taken inside the chapel at St. Anthony's Seminary here in Santa Barbara. The idea was to give them a shot with LOTS of head room, so they can populate the top portion with dates, maps, concert graphics etc to advertise for future events.
The intricate stone carving (actually I believe it's plaster) is at the back of the chapel and is quite ornate and absolutely beautiful.
I edited these photos just after this morning's sermon which was based on Exodus 20:18-26 when Moses had just received the Ten Commandments. Lord tells Moses, (paraphrasing) "Don't make and gods of gold or silver (idols) and then procedes to tell Moses to build an altar, but with very specific instruction on how NOT to build it.
Verses 24 and 25 read: 24 An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. 25 And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.
In verse 25, God says "you may make make a stone altar, however, it must not be hewn, or carved stone." God did not want the altar to be made with any man-made carvings or anything ornate as to distract the worshiper from the spirit of and beauty of God.
As the sermon was fresh in my mind, while editing the photos, I was struck by the ornateness of the background in the images I was editing. Although it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL sculpted artwork, I couldn't help but think of this mornings sermon. As I looked at the image, the ornateness and beauty of the background competes with the choir at the bottom of the image.
Now, when the photo will be used in promotional purposes, there will be graphics and titles, dates, maps and all sort of other items covering the background so it wont be that big of a deal. However, on its own, I could see how such ornateness could be a distraction. Would that not be the case if one were listening to sermon in the chapel, particularly a very BAD sermon? How easy would it be to drift of and study and admire the beauty of the art, instead of focusing on the word of God being taught at that moment?
In looking at the sculpture, at the very top of the image, we clearly see God the Father, followed by Th Holy Spirit descending down from heaven in the form of a dove, followed by the crucified Christ, with a glowing sun and what appears to be a rainbow beneath him.
I am told the giant circle above the choir, is a communion wafer, obviously representing Christ's body.
To the mediate left, you can see what looks like a priest with two loaves of bread and a chalice of wine, and next to that, it appears to be a group of people partaking in communion.
A closer examination of the full-sized picture can be found HERE.
The rest, I'm not entirely sure about. If you know, then please leave your comments below. I would love to know.
Regardless, at the end of the sermon, we then went on to learn that greatest sacrificial altar ever made, was simply two intersecting wooden beams, in which Christ's blood was shed for the ultimate sacrifice for mankind.
Truly, the simplest and must humble of altars.
=BM=
Great picture Bob!
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