As with
many of my sculptures, there is an interesting relationship
between the form of this piece and the materials used to make
it. The form of the cross is the preeminent symbol of Christianity.
It points to the place where Jesus’ did His work of
enduring the wrath of God to pay for the sins of those who
would trust Him for eternal life. It is the message of the
cross that nourishes and builds up Christians in their faith
and relationship with Christ. The cross, then, is the spiritual
“food” and “building material” for
the Christian heart.
The bamboo
used to make this cross reflects and points to these spiritual
truths. Bamboo is a “woody, treelike grass” that
can be used “for building” and whose “young
shoots can be used for food.”1
The parallels to the meaning of the cross are striking and
easy to detect. The physical properties of bamboo parallel
the spiritual properties of the cross. They both are used
as nourishment and as building material; the cross in a spiritual
sense, and bamboo in a physical sense.
Taken
together, the form of the cross and the medium of bamboo make
a striking and vibrant message. Blended in this earthy, organic
piece, they form a harmony of themes to nourish the Christian
heart.
1/Webster’s
New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Co., 1953,
p. 68.
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