The Gospel Before Our Eyes

In 2017, we looked at some of the famous art pieces that were born out of the beginnings of the Lutheran Reformation. This year, we’ll consider some of the artwork that adorns our own churches, helping to hold to the good news of Jesus before our eyes.
Trinity Lutheran Church was blessed to have as a member Cape Cod artist Robert Heath. In 2009, he created the painting that graces the altarpiece, one that brings out the richness of Word and Sacrament according to the Confessions of the Lutheran Church.
The mural is a triptych, a work of art divided into three panels that arose in Christian art to signify the “three-in-oneness” of God, the Holy Trinity. The two outer panels show the grape and wheat motif that frame the context, namely, the altar at which the faithful commune, receiving “the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself, for us Christians to eat and drink.”
At the top of the center panel is seen the Hebrew tetragrammaton, יהוה, which means “I AM,” from Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-14).
Descending from God the Father is God the Holy Spirit in the bodily form of a dove, as happened at the baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:21-22). Under the dove is the chalice and host of the Sacrament of the Altar, and under that is written in Greek ΕΝΟΣ ΕΣΤΙΝ ΧΡΕΙΑ (trans. One thing is needful) from the story of Mary and Martha, that “one thing” being to sit at the feet of Jesus to hear His Word (Luke 10:38-42).
Finally, suspended from the frame in front of the Chalice and Host, standing out as the chief focal point of the work, is a wood carved crucifix. The host on the canvas behind it encircles the head of Christ, serving the added purpose of a nimbus signifying the divinity of the Crucified Lord Jesus.
Reverend James Braun
Contributing Writer
Trinity Lutheran Church
Brewster, MA