It was a dull rainy...
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"It was a dull rainy day when things looked dark and lowering, but Phillips Brooks came down through Newspaper Row and all was bright." So reported a Boston newspaper in the 1880s. Phillips Brooks was the pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church in Boston from 1869 to 1891. He was one of America's outstanding preachers. People spoke of his eloquence, charm, and tolerance. To honor him and to portray his spirit, a delegation asked the American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to make a statue of Phillips Brooks. The sculptor wondered how to capture the inner quality of this great man. The sculptor's finished work now stands in front of Trinity Church. The statue shows Phillips Brooks in his pulpit. Behind him is the figure of Jesus. The hand of Jesus rests on the preacher's shoulder. The hand of Jesus stands for his power. In Hebrew, the word for "hand" is yad. It can mean either hand or power. The risen Christ said to his disciples, "Look at my hands" (Luke 24:39). Those hands cured. Those hands cheered. Those hands conquered. Those hands cornforted. In John's vision of the risen Christ, the Lord had seven stars in his right hand. To comfort John, the exile on the island of Patmos, Christ must have laid those stars aside because the next thing John writes is this: "He laid his right hand upon me and said, 'Do not be afraid' " (Revelation 1:17).
- Chinn
- Chinn
