Presbyterian Wood Carver Jerry Cooper
Delivers Cross to Westminster Nashville
The Processional Cross, which the Westminster Worship
Committee commissioned several months ago, is now in use. The wood carver,
Jerry Cooper of Berea, Kentucky, personally delivered the cross. He
and his wife worshiped at Westminster at the 11:00 service, November
11th. Cooper is a retired Presbyterian minister.
The wood out of which the cross was created comes
from a walnut tree that the artist purchased about fifteen years ago.
When the Presbyterian Church celebrated "A Year With Africa"
in 1987, twenty communion sets were created out of the wood and given
to delegates who came to the United States from Africa. Seventeen additional
communion sets were created a year or two later to be given as gifts
to the international students graduating from Louisville Seminary. The
Westminster cross, therefore, comes with an organic connection to the
Presbyterian Church in Africa.
The design of the cross is taken from the cross
in the Memorial Garden which in turn was fashioned by architect Baird
Dixon after the original Celtic cross of the Iona Community off the
coast of Scotland. It was from the isle of Iona that St. Columba went
to the mainland to carry the Christian Gospel to Scotland.
The use of a processional cross was explained in
the Westminster newsletter: "What would Calvin think of the use
of a processional cross? Well, he was "high church" in every
sense of the word. For example, he advocated every Sunday communion,
arguing that Word and Table were of equal importance in the worship
life of the congregation. While he abhorred unnecessary and distracting
accretions to the liturgy, he found the central symbols of the Christian
faith to be beneficial to the worshiper. Thus, for Calvin, the primary
visuals in the worship space consisted of the pulpit, symbolizing the
Word written and spoken; the Table, symbolizing the Holy Supper of our
Lord; the font, which, of course, represents the entry rite into the
Christian fellowship; and the cross, the central and primary symbol
of the faith. Calvin could tolerate nothing that distracted from these
central symbols, but strongly advocated worship "aids" for
God's people. Whatever helped to focus our attention on Jesus Christ,
the Sacraments, and God's Word, Calvin endorsed. Whatever detracted
from same, he resisted."
In Westminster worship the cross will be carried
in front of the procession, followed by the Bible and worship leaders.
It will be placed in a stand that is portable so that the cross can
be located in different places in the chancel depending upon the liturgical
season and the particular emphasis in worship on a given Sunday. The
cross may also be used for weddings and funerals and other liturgical
occasions.
