A New Sign for a Not-So-Old Church

by Ed Ing

A street sign for a church signifies different things.  And replacing an old sign can become an issue.  Beyond the issue, beyond the aesthetics, beyond the paint and lettering, what does the sign mean?

My church St. Barnabas’ was started in 1962.  In the eighties a metal street sign was designed and installed for the church.  The sign’s low profile blended with the roadside landscape.  It showed the church’s name and the times for Holy Eucharist services on Sundays.  The sign worked best at night when the fluorescent bulbs inside the sign shined through the stenciling.  Over the years, the sign weathered, the metal corroded, and the paint faded.  Neighborhood demographics have changed as well.

The church, under a new rector, planned to replace the sign ten years ago.  A committee recommended a carved sign in 2006.  But the committee recommendation was never implemented, because some in the church did not want a replacement.  A coat of paint on the old sign and the addition of a sandwich board sign on the sidewalk, they said, would serve.  And the money given for the improvement would be better spent elsewhere.  Nothing was done until a new assistant bishop on his first visit drove right by the church without seeing it.  The church sits well back from the road behind a berm.   If the church was not visible to the bishop, many others did not see it either.

So the process to replace the sign started up again.  The county granted the permits, the sign maker delivered the replacement, the sign was erected, and new lighting installed.  The sign was dedicated this spring on Pentecost, the Sunday commemorating God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to all peoples who would receive Christ.  A new sign now stands in front of the church.  Some still think that it is too bold and brash.

The experience of replacing the old sign shows that my church is a group of people like any other group.  But unlike other groups, this little parish church and the bigger Church continually remind us of God -- who as the Father created us, who as the Son redeemed us, and who as the Holy Spirit sanctifies us.  And we are also continually reminded to feed the hungry, help the needy, and welcome the stranger.  For Christ tells us that insofar as do this to one of the least, we also do it to Him, and that insofar as we neglect to do this to one of the least, we neglect to do it to Him also.  Matthew 25:26 – 46.

The new church sign can mean all this and more.  It also can mean all this and less.  The sign reflects aspirations and it also reflects shortcomings.  For me the sign identifies a community that is repeatedly asked to be mindful of God’s presence and God’s love for us even though we in our striving fall short of the love He asks of us.

Take a look at the picture of the new church sign.  See what the sign means.  And consider this ancient prayer from a time of great turmoil in the sixth century.  In the liturgical cycle of prayer, the Episcopal Church designates this prayer to open worship on the 20^th Sunday after Pentecost.  The theme of the prayer comes from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae -- Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on earth.

“Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly, and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.”

J2A Pilgrimage to Rome - Part 6 of 6

We started Friday by visiting the National Museum of Rome.  The museum focuses on the archeological history of Rome, with displays of many of the statuaries that have been uncovered within the city and the surrounding areas.  This display greets visitors at the entrance of the museum, as it shows what the area around the Baths of Diocletian looked like back at the height of Rome’s power.

The special exhibit at the museum concentrated on the written language of Rome.  There were videos that showed how they put together what Rome looked like long ago from the fragments of maps and writings.  Another video showed how the carving of Roman letters was done.  There were a number of writing exhibits, including how different social classes used writing and how Romans wrote in cursive.  This photograph has nothing to do with writing, however.  It is a Balbi wall and wood oil painting of the father of Pope Clemente IV, himself a Carthusian monk.  It resides in the Michelangelo cluster of the museum.

We then headed next door to the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli.  This was the church that Michelangelo helped design once Pope Pius IV consecrated the Baths of Diocletian to the angels and Christian martyrs that built the baths.  Many of the exhibits within the church were showing that Galileo Galilei was a religious man, not an atheist.

This is a statue found outside the old sacristy of Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli, entitled “Galileo Galilei Divine Man.”

We stopped at a small restaurant near the Piazza Barberini called La Fontanella Sistina.  Kinsey ordered a calzone.  That was the football-sized calzone that was delivered to her.  Yikes!

Our final visit was to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo, a church that was described as “a wonderful primer on Roman art and architecture.”  Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we got there, but that did not stop me from posing in front of the church for a photograph.  To finish off the “Angels and Demons” theme, this was the church that Dan Brown used as the Earth-based Altar of Science.

We spent the rest of the afternoon gift shopping, drinking tea at Babington’s Tea Room, and visiting the Spanish Steps.  Our pilgrimage ends tomorrow as we head home from Rome.  We hope that these pictures have given you a taste of the pilgrimage that we have experienced.  Thanks again to all of you who helped make our pilgrimage possible!

J2A Pilgrimage to Rome - Part 5 of 6

On Thursday, Kinsey, Alyson, and the rest of the J2A Pilgrimage Group headed on a day-long tour to Assisi.  We first stopped in Orvieto, one of the Etruscan walled cities in Umbria, “the Green Heart of Italy,” about an hour north of Rome.  If you have seen the film “Under the Tuscan Sun,” then you have seen an example of these walled cities.  The basilica pictured here is Duomo, which is an example of the Romanesque Gothic architecture.  You can see the style inside the basilica (which, like many other churches, did not allow photography inside) with the layers of the walls as they were built up.  The church looks worn and faded on the inside, especially compared to the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica we saw on Wednesday, but – in my opinion – it felt like a real church and not a spectacle.

We arrived in Orvieto before the basilica opened, so we had time to explore the town’s main street.  We ran into a number of beautiful ceramic shops, as well as a woodworking shop and a medieval collectibles store.  Kinsey and Allyson had espresso at a small bed-and-breakfast bar.

We stopped for a traditional Italian lunch at Podeze Bello, a farm located near Orvieto.  The antipasto (appetizer) was bruschetta, and the pasta dish was rigatoni in meat sauce (tomato sauce for the vegetarians).  The main course included salted veal, chicken, and lentils for the omnivores, while the herbivores had thick parmesan cheese and lentils.  The dessert was a wonderful Italian flan.  After the meal, we continued north to Assisi.

The first basilica we toured in Assisi was the Basilica di Santa Chiara, which houses the body of Saint Clare, the first female Franciscan monk and the founder of the Order of Poor Ladies.  It also contains a number of paintings from the 12th through 14th centuries, as well as the Crucifix that Saint Francis venerated at San Damiano.

St. Francis was credited with creating the first nativity scene.  The photograph shows the nativity set displayed outside in the Piazza di Santa Chiara.

St. Francis, who is well-known for starting the Order of Franciscan Monks, was actually born in a stable, where this photograph was taken.  Despite his humble beginnings, he was considered to be a playboy for his first 24 years of life, with aspirations of becoming a knight.  It was God that appeared to St. Francis in a vision to tell him to establish a church (and, eventually, the order of monks).

As we made our way into the Piazza Del Comune, which included an old Roman Temple to Minerva that has been converted to the Chiesa di Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and down the Via Portica, I was able to snap a long-distance shot of San Damiano, where St. Francis heard God’s voice and where he wrote the canticle of the Creatures.  Saint Claire used the building to found a convent.

The final basilica we toured in Assisi was the Basilica di Saint Francesco, which consists of two churches.  The upper church has colorful frescoes that show the major events in Saint Francis’ life, including his vow of poverty when he joined the church, when he received the stigmata, and two of the miracles attributed to him after his death.  The lower church has older frescoes that show the history of Jesus.  There is also a tomb below the lower church where the body of Saint Francis is laid.

The final stop on the tour was the Basilica di Santa Maria Degli Angeli, about 4 kilometers outside of Assisi.  A number of events happened in this church, including the recruiting of monks that would form the basis of the first Franciscan order, and the place were Saint Francis bestowed the Franciscan cowl to Saint Claire.

There is only one more day of sight-seeing on this pilgrimage, so stay tuned…

J2A Pilgrimage to Rome - Part 4 of 6

We spent Wednesday touring Vatican City.  Our first stop was a General Audience with Pope Benedict XVI in the Pope Paul VI Auditorium.  We lined up outside the gate to the auditorium about 7:45 AM, where a crowd had already gathered.  We got through the gates (and the metal detectors) and made it inside the auditorium around 8:30 AM.

Because we got our invitations through the Bishop’s Office for United States Visitors to the Vatican, we had really good seats, about five rows away from the stage.  This picture shows the sculpture that formed the backdrop for the papal presentation.  There was a two-hour wait between when we arrived and when the general audience began, so we spent the time looking at the cardinals as they arrived and listening to all the chants, songs, and cheers from the Roman Catholic pilgrims of many nationalities.

And then Pope Benedict XVI arrived.  When the General Audience was described to us as a “papal pep rally,” they were not kidding.  The audience started with a prayer, followed by a reading of the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians in seven different languages:  Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.  The Pope then continued a series of lessons about prayer that he started earlier this year.  Then pilgrims were introduced to the Pope in each of the seven native languages, and the Pope returned a greeting in each language.  A final prayer was read in Latin, and the Pope gave his blessing to all who attended, their families, and their friends.  So please consider yourself blessed!

The Pope also blessed any religious item brought by any member of the audience.  This included this gold-colored statue that was sitting on the stage to the left of the Pope.  We happened to run into it again after lunch when this picture was snapped.

We spent a little time in St. Peter’s Square, taking pictures of the Egyptian obelisk and the two fountains on the other side.  Here is a picture of Connie Badger in front of St. Peter’s Basilica.  Continuing once again on the “Angels and Demons” theme, St. Peter’s Basilica and Square was what Dan Brown used to symbolize the Air-based Altar of Science.

We then went on a guided tour of the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.  It was a rather hectic tour, as the Vatican Museum hosts a number of amazing art pieces, but was built to allow only 30 viewers in a room at a time.  For a museum that gets over 13,000 visitors a day, it leads to a crowded museum all day long.  The Sistine Chapel was just as busy, but the paintings that cover the walls and ceiling of the chapel are breathtaking.  Unfortunately, they did not allow any photography within the Sistine Chapel, so we do not have any photos from there.

We finished our day walking around St. Peter’s Basilica, which is the main church in Vatican City. This photograph shows the high altar in the distance under rays of light, under which St. Peter is buried. The dome above the altar, which Michelangelo started in 1546, and Della Porta and Fontana finished in 1589, is huge, stretching out 92 meters into the sky. 

A shot straight up the dome. You can tell that I really like having rays of light in my pictures.

Located in the first nave on the right from the entrance is Michelangelo’s “Pieta.” The statue of the murdered Jesus stretched across the Virgin Mary’s lap was sculpted between 1498 and 1499, and Michelangelo signed the work across the Virgin Mary’s sash. We took plenty of pictures within St. Peter’s Basilica, but after a hard week of phototaking, my camera batteries decided that enough was enough. 

So the camera batteries are now charging as we prepare for an all-day trip to Assisi on Thursday. Stay tuned…