The Christus Rex
Last Updated on Friday, 09 April 2010 22:18 Written by Dr. Travis Smith Friday, 09 April 2010 20:14
| Article Index |
|---|
| The Christus Rex |
| Learning to Carve |
| Carving the Face |
| The Body & the Bishop's Visit |
| Painting the Body |
| Symbols Used |
| Installation & Dedication |
| Final Thoughts |
| All Pages |
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One of the most prominent artistic features at St. Anne's is the stunning Christus Rex (Latin for "Christ the King") that hangs over the chancel. Given its size and beauty, many are surprised to learn that it was carved by a St. Anne's parishioner who had never carved anything else in his life.
Below is the moving story of how God led Dr. Travis Smith on a journey of spiritual and artistic discovery, one that ultimately resulted in one of the most beautiful and significant features of the sanctuary at St. Anne's. The following story is Dr. Smith's own account of this miraculous journey.
The Creation and Carving of St. Anne’s Christ the King
L. Travis Smith, DMD
It was 1983 when something incredible began to come to fruition. It was something that now seems to have been pre-destined in my life. A series of synchronous events that could not have taken place without divine and spiritual intervention began to play out in an astonishing and often mind numbing way. Looking back on it today, as I write these words twenty six years later, I am still humbled for the part I played in the creation and carving of the Christus Rex at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church.
There isn’t really a starting point because everything that took place before in all my life culminated in an event outside the “Old” St. Anne’s Church. After the third service one Sunday, Fr. Jacoba Hurst and I were walking back to his office across the newly staked out foundation markings for the new St. Anne’s Church building yet to be built. He stopped and turned toward the future building site and said, “Can you just imagine what it will look like? A tall 'A' frame with its bell tower reaching to Heaven, a cross high on top. As you go through the narthex you will see beautiful chandeliers hanging from the arched ceiling leading to a raised stand alone altar with its brass candles. Above the altar as you look up, hanging in all its majesty, a Christus Rex.”
I felt as if I had been struck! I actually saw this figure of Christ and knew in my heart and soul that I was to carve it!
It wasn’t a dream, there were no voices in my head, it was more like a sudden “knowing” that I was supposed to do something. I could even envision every detail of what it was supposed to look like when finished. So I turned to Fr. Hurst and asked, “What’s a Christus Rex?” and he proceeded to tell me exactly what I had seen. This image persisted in my head for months as I wrestled with all the reasons why I shouldn’t be the one to do this carving. I didn’t have the time, I didn’t have the money, I didn’t have the tools, I had never carved anything bigger than a Boy Scout neckerchief slide and I didn’t have a place to do it. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to go away, so I went to Fr. Hurst with the idea of carving this Christus Rex for the new church. Looking back on that day, I honestly don’t know how Fr. Hurst kept from bursting out in laughter at the proposal that one of his parishioners was going to carve the central figure of the church. Surely he shuddered in disbelief. Instead, he consented to the idea and said we should offer it up in prayer. He also arranged for me to go to a silent retreat at the church retreat camp at Honey Creek.
Honey Creek is a beautiful campground nestled amongst majestic sprawling oak trees draped with Spanish moss right up against the Marshes of Glynn. While there, I prayed, fasted and asked for a sign that I was to be the one to do this carving. The questions of “Why me?” and “Who am I to carve Jesus?” plagued me. This beautiful Sanctuary that had a Christus Rex of its own is where I meditated and while meditating I felt I had received that sign. I still harbored the feeling that this just can’t be real. With still nagging doubts, I committed myself that Sunday to at least trying. If it was truly to be, then God would have to solve all the problems that appeared to be obstructing me.When I returned to my dental office the following Monday, there in the middle of my desk was a brochure for a course to be held in Tifton for the first time; a duck decoy carving course. I signed up immediately. This was a synchronous event the likes of which was unmistakable. The course taught technique and introduced me to tools I had never before seen. This event also reinforced me enough to go and buy the wood in which I was eventually going to carve the figure. An old friend I grew up with, Eddie Willis who refinished antiques and made some beautiful pieces of furniture, helped me determine the board footage, and we ordered the linden wood, commonly called basswood. My father had retired in 1982 and I was in the middle of renovating the shared dental office. I traded one of my father’s old dental cabinets for some of the wood and the use of his wood planer to join the boards that would make up the center portion of the figure.
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