Recessional

18” tall

In liturgical churches the church service or mass begins with the priest and altar assistants entering the church through the back. In the lead of this procession an acolyte is carrying a processional cross, a cross on a pole. The processional works its way through the congregation and on up to the altar area, where the processional cross is planted as a symbol of Christ’s presence in the service. At the end of the service the cross leads the recessional, coming down from the altar, the “holy of holies”, out through the people of God, and out into the world. The symbolism of the recessional has often been the most meaningful part of a mass or service for me.

I wanted to portray a deeper symbolism of the recessional through this art piece. The background represents the traditional church. There is a stylized rose window, much like you would find above the altar in many churches. There is also a stylized rood screen. A rood screen is a wooden barrier that separates the congregation from the altar area. It implies that there is a barrier between the holy and the mundane. “God is in his holy temple.” You are not. The wood of this background is oak, which was a predominant material in the construction of old world churches. Oak is dry and splintery.

The cross itself is made of red cedar, which is a common wood in my new world setting. It is common, but it is beautiful and easy to work. The native people in my part of the world called the cedar tree “the tree of life”. You may be able to perceive it in the picture, but it is more noticeable in real life: Oak and Cedar don’t really go together. Oak is stiff. Cedar is soft.

There is an upward progression of Christ in this cross. The bottom is Christ, the Alpha and Omega. In the center is Jesus (icon shorthand IC = “Jesus”) in a vesica fiscus, which is in this case is a symbol of the womb of Mary. At the top is the Resurrected Christ, the Cosmic Christ, transcending the physical realm and bursting with life and light.

This piece, then, is a symbol of Christ receding from the beauty of the traditional church and into the world of the 21st Century. Christ the eternal, Christ the human, Christ the cosmic. Many ancient symbols are retained, because they speak of truth, but Christ leads the recession into the  world in ever new ways.