Advent Cross
   
Christ Church
Smithfield, Virginia

By The Rev. Gary J. M. Barker

The next morning, his daughter-in-law and the church’s Director of Christian Formation, Lois Chapman, placed her portrayal of Mary and the birth of Jesus in the long, standing base of the cross. Lois worked in pastels to create a womb-like portrayal of a young woman holding a newborn. “The role of Mary, the mother of Christ, cannot be overstated. If Abraham is the father of our faith, then Mary is our ‘faith mother’.” The drawing swirls with the challenge and wild beauty of living by faith. In the Advent 1 sermon, Lois shared her vision of Mary and some words about it with the congregation. The expectation for the next piece of art became palpable among us.

Second Advent, Cathy Minga, a local artist and long-time church member, placed her offering in the left arm of the cross. She had been given the “overwhelming task” of portraying the life and work of Jesus in one arm of the cross. As most of us do, when faced with an overwhelming task, Cathy “prayed and contemplated the life and works of Christ.” In her prayer and meditation, she was led to the one word, LOVE. She decided to portray this LOVE as light breaking into the world. Therefore, on 2 Advent, we came to see her dramatic oil painting of God’s love bursting in upon us.

Rick Beruvides, a relatively new member of the congregation who serves in the military and does all sorts of art on the side (including some murals for our church nursery), offered us the vision for 3 Advent. Rick painted a richly symbolic portrayal of the crucifixion and placed it in the right arm of the cross. Since all of Christ reflects the Trinity of God, all the representations on Rick’s watercolor are triangular – even the red blood on everyone’s guilty hands. “You will note,” Rick says, “that the rays of sun are in blue representing how sad a moment that was. One of the rays of the sun is yellow and that represents hope, the hope of resurrection . . . [and it] points up towards the resurrection painting.”

Finally, I, the church’s Rector, placed my portrayal of Easter in the head of the cross for 4 Advent. I was lucky enough to be on retreat for three days in Advent where I had the time to ponder the Resurrection in the context of Advent and paint my pondering. My final watercolor represents the sunrise up very close and a person appearing to dance among the flames. In Advent, I somehow felt even more intimately the sense that resurrection is dangerously close to death and yet amazingly full of celebration. I borrowed the swirl of faith in Lois’s pastel from 1 Advent, the light bursting forth in Cathy’s painting from 2 Advent, and the yellow hope, as well as the flip side of death, Rick’s portrayal of the crucifixion.