Guide to the Meaning of the Chancel Symbols Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church “...this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Genesis 28:17 ookout Mountain Presbyterian Church is a congregation of believers who are astonished by the gospel of Christ and respond with worship; a community of people who, through large and small groups, are being transformed L in their relationships with God and with one another; and a part of a movement empowered by the gospel to have an impact on the world through outreach and ministry. Thus, we want to be a people defined by the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. To see this purpose fulfilled we must be centered on His infallible Word and build upon the richness of our Reformed theological and historic background. In a phrase, we seek to be biblically based and historically vital in all that we do as we glorify God. Believing that there should be no object of worship other than the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we still want to respect the history upon which we stand and out of which we have grown. The place of worship at Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church reflects that desire. A major part of the Christian church’s history has been to use symbols to educate the people of God and not to be causes for worship. When much of church history was marked by ministry to people in cultures that were illiterate, the use of symbolism became important to memorize and teach truth. It is the use of symbols as Christian education that is the goal of the architectural design of this church. There is one God and one mediator between God and man and it is this Triune God that we worship alone. But we respect our history and note it in the beauty of art. May the following material assist you in your appreciation of the careful craftsmanship of all that appoints the architecture of our place of worship. The cross itself is a symbol. It speaks to us of the death of the only-begotten Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. “Beneath the cross of Jesus, I fain would take my stand, the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land. Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see the very dying form of one who suffered there for me; and from my smitten heart with tears two wonders I confess — the wonders of his glorious love, and my unworthiness.” The cross which hangs here is beautiful, only in its main form recalling the rude beams upon which our Savior died. It might be appropriate to have rough, unfinished wood for the cross, but it would not then be a symbol but almost the thing itself. We have chosen a beautiful cross because by his death and resurrection Christ transformed the instrument of pain. We stand on the other side of Easter from that Black Friday on which he died. The form of the cross is Celtic, so that those who know history will know at once upon entering this church that it is the Celtic tradition into which the Presbyterian Reformation spoke the truth of God’s Word. This is the shape of the cross which comes from the Island of Iona in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland, whence Columba and other missionaries evangelized Scotland and England and Europe. One explanation of its form is that the ring is the old Druid circle, and that in the ancient pagan rites of human sacrifice were made of the person upon whom the sun annually shone through the ring. The Christian cross is superimposed upon it, forever blocking those barbaric sacrifices by the only adequate sacrifice, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Another point of interest is that the cross is said to be of such design that the sunrise at the season of Easter used to make a halo of light around it through the spaces within the circle. On this circle now is woven the Crown of Thorns. On the staff is intertwined the Vine of Life. At the bottom are the heads of two beasts, symbolizing the triumph of the cross over the powers of evil. The circular motifs on the staff have twelve parts, eight circles and four squares, recalling the groups of twelve who went out on their missionary journeys from Iona. At the top, twelve little spheres represent the Apostles. On each arm of the cross a grouping of five spheres recalls the five wounds of Christ, the nail-prints in hands and feet and the spear thrust in his side. In the center is the “Chi-Rho” symbol, the first two letters of the Greek name “Christos,” with a horizontal bar to make a cross. The “rho” is in the form of a shepherd’s crook. At the ends of the limbs of the cross are shown the traditional symbols of the four Gospel writers, drawn from the vision of the prophet recounted in the first chapter of Ezekiel. While in captivity in Babylon, Ezekiel had a vision in which he saw four living creatures, each with four faces and four wings, one face being that of a man, one that of a lion, one that of an ox, and one the face of an eagle. The symbols have been variously applied, but the most common usage today is the one adopted here. The winged man is the symbol of Matthew, because he begins his Gospel by tracing the human descent of Jesus. The lion denotes Mark, because that writer opens his inspired book by describing the ministry of John the Baptist who was as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The ox is a representation of Luke because of his stress on the sacrificial death of our Lord. And the symbol of John is the eagle, because his Gospel soars in the heavenlies as if on eagles’ wings. These figures appear also in the rose window at the rear of the church. The carved oak frame is called the “reredos,” and the red velvet hanging is the “dossal” or “dorsal.” At the top of the reredos is the six-pointed star and the crown of God the Father. Immediately below in the center is the shepherd’s crook in the Chi-Rho form, and the book, two symbols of God the Son, reminding us of his works and words. The dove represents God the Holy Spirit , who came upon Jesus in bodily form at His baptism in Jordan. The posts of the reredos are the four pillars of the Gospel, and the letters stand for the Winged Man or Angel, the Lion, the Ox, and the Eagle, symbols of the four evangelists. Across the top are the twelve stars of the heavenly host recalling the creation when all the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy. Below them, issuing from the crown, are the four rivers of the waters of life, two on each side. On the smooth panel, carved in the solid oak, are devices depicting the nine fruits of the Spirit: the dove for love, the harp for joy, the olive branch for peace, the crown of thorns for long-suffering, the daisies for gentleness, the lamb on the Book of Seven Seals for goodness, the cross on the rock for faithfulness, the lily-of-the-valley for meekness, and the scales for temperance. In the mosaic above are shown the stars whose light makes little crosses. At the base of the mosaic we find again the rivers of the waters of life, with the gold of Christ interwoven with the red of earth. At the bottom of the reredos is the vine with its bunches of grapes, recalling the words of Jesus, “I am the Vine, ye are the branches,” and keeping us mindful that we as Christians must be fruitful, yet apart from him we can do nothing. On the Communion Table are eight medallions which speak of Christ himself. In the upper row are the burning bush from Moses’ experience with the Christ of the Old Testament. Then comes the wheat, and to our minds the words of Jesus, “I am the Bread of life.” Then the vine, with its grapes for the wine of his blood. And last, the lantern to remind us that he is the Light of the world. (The burning bush is used by the Church of Scotland, and the lamp by the Waldensian Church. Both of them, with the Morning Star, the Dove of the Spirit, the Olive Branch of Peace and the Latin words for “Light Shineth in Darkness,” appear on the Seal of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.) In the lower row is the fish, which in the days of persecution, was used in the catacombs as a cryptic symbol to mark where Christians lived, or the Lord’s Supper was to be observed. It would have significance for the initiate but would be meaningless to the Roman authorities, yet how full of meaning to the followers of the Carpenter who had called the fishermen from their lesser tasks and sent them out to be fishers of men? The five letters of the Greek word for “fish,” iota - chi - theta - upsilon - sigma, are the initial letters of the Greek phrase for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” Then follows the Tau cross bearing a serpent in reminder of Christ’s words, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up...And I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me” (John 3:14; 12:32).