The Holy Cross Chapel (Location: 3190 West State Route 89A, between Village at Oak Creek and Sedona Arizona) is a place of spiritual reflective beauty. Open free to the public with a gift of silence, it is teeming with visitors in this time of Covid. It is always an opportunity to sit quietly and reflect on our amazing creator God and His gift of His Son to us.
The building was inspired and commissioned by local Sedona rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude. …..the dream became a reality by 1956. Source RedSedona.com
The addition of the large crucifix to the chapel adds the element of Christianity to an otherwise beautiful view. As a follower of Christ, the life ending of Christ portrayed with Him hanging on a cross at crucifixion is a sad and poignant moment. The joy of the resurrection is missing.
What religious or spiritual element do you have in travel? Churches, cathedrals, natural beauty and art? How does this add to your travel experiences?
“It had to be site specific, obviously,” Muir said. “Every measurement on the piece there is a reason why it is there. It has some spiritual meaning to it as well as literal, but that had to be dovetailed into the restrictions, so to speak, on how much it could support weight-wise, how it was going to be done. It’s just under 2,400 pounds. The piece had to be in pieces; originally, it was something like 82, 83, 84 molds — separate pieces. There are basically I think seven pieces that will fit together like a jigsaw. The Christ itself is too big to be in one piece and way too much to lift it up in one piece, so that had to be engineered in sections.”
When determining the subject matter for the sculpture, Kleczewski and Muir set in stone a vision of a living Christ crucified upon the Tree of Life, which depicts humanity’s journey from its fall in the Garden of Eden to redemption by God’s hand. While the Tree of Life is a common Christian image, Muir and Kleczewski expressed similar sentiments in that the statue is bound to no one or one thing.
“If you look at the face of this piece, it is an incredibly beautiful face of love,” Kleczewski said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Christian, Buddhist, atheist, it doesn’t matter what your religion affiliation …. I just think that [for] everybody that enters this space it’s going to be an incredibly powerful encounter, and that’s what I really think is the amazing thing about this piece.”…. When looking to the statue, one can begin to distinguish symbolic elements, and Muir noted two in particular being the left hand of the statue with one finger raised for the first commandment and the right hand, which is coming down and gesturing with two fingers raised to the spectators that stand at its feet, which represents the second commandment. Source: http://www.redrocknews.com/chapel-of-the-holy-cross-adds-james-muir-s-crucifix-sculpture/
Yes the sky is really that color – even with a iPhone!