A CARPENTER'S STORY - SCRIPTURE

Since I began my journey into wood carving, I have carved many Bible verses or related text. In many ways it was scripture that originally got me wanting to carve in the first place. As a member of the Camberwell Evangelical for over 30 years, I was on occasions called upon to produce large Bible verses for use in the church, one of which was in the main chapel. It read ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;’. At the time, it came out OK for an untrained sign writer. But wouldn’t it be good to actually carve something like that. Well maybe that was the seed God planted in my mind way back then.

In my last blog I quoted these verses from the book of Exodus chapter 31 verses 1-5 we read: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, see, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

It speaks of a man called Bezaleel, the first recorded carver in history and probably the best there has ever been. He was a multi skilled craftsman in not just wood, but stone and metal too. Where did he obtain these skill's, did he learn them in Eygpt as a slave, or as the scripture says, was it a gift from God.

I imagine the tools that Bezaleel used to carve into timber back then are not that different from the tools I use today. Chisels, mallets, sharpening stones and something to draw with. But tools are one thing, but the skill to use them takes many hours of practice to master. Often I pray before I begin a carving or any form of woodwork. “Lord please give me skillful hands like Bezaleel”. In a book by Malcolm Gladwell’s, Outliers. It is claimed with 10,000 hours of practice you can be expert at anything. A theory that has been rebuffed by many. I for one have spent at least that many hours if not more, over the years playing football. I have played on grass, mud, ash, concrete, wooden floor boards, tarmac, astro turf and sports halls. At the end of some 40+ years playing, I was still pretty rubbish. Malcolm Gladwell’s theory may be way off, but maybe it's a good indicator. Whatever the truth, I know I have a very long way to go, to become a master carver and may never get there.

There is something about scripture that is carved in wood or stone that gives it yet another dimension. You can touch it and literally run your fingers through it. The first Bible verse I did carve was for my brother Peter and his wife Felicity. “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord”. When I was carving it in the sunshine one day, the sun created a shadow of the cross from one of the clamps I was using to hold the timber in place. It was very strange at the time. The wood I used was Magnolia. This beautiful timber is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol. It has a lovely grain to the wood, but I found it not as easy to get the letters crisp.

Out of all the verses I have carved, my favorite was the one I did for our own home. Yet again I have to say it was dear wife Judith who came up with the idea. The section of the verse we took reads ‘Bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God.’ They were words that Abigail spoke to King David. Perhaps not the most obvious verse you might chose to put on your wall, but none the less beautiful. There is no doubt in my mind that the beauty and the authority of the language of God’s word is best expressed in the old English of the Authorised King James version. New translations of the scripture may be easier to read, and more the language of our day. But to me when modern versions of the Scripture are read out, they don't have the the same authority and power of the old English King James version. Here is just one example I have come across in recent years that illustrates my point. There are many others, and people far more learned then me could tell you about them.

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

King James Version

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

English Standard Version

I don't know, but when I first became a Christian by the grace of God, I was given a mansion in the sky. But now I am down to a single room.

The biggest carving I have done to date was also a section of scripture. It was for East Dulwich Tabenacle, and it hangs above the pulpit and hopefully it will be for many years to come. As this was going to be a big carving, I thought if might be a good idea to first carve a small version of the verse, “Looking Unto Jesus”. The sample was carved in walnut, and it was the choice of timber that would work best. In the end those who made the dissensions, went with oak, which was the cheaper option.

When thinking of scripture, I think of Hebrew, the language of the Jews, God's people of the Old Testament. I have carved Hebrew on a few occasions. When carving, it is vital you spell your words correctly, especially if you carving in a foreign language and in particular if that language happens to be Hebrew. If you get it wrong it is virtually impossible to put right. Well this happened to me once when I thought it would be a good idea to do a double sided carving of my daughter Lizzie’s name. One side the English spelling, the other side Hebrew for Elizabeth. My mistake was using the internet to translate Elizabeth into Hebrew. Don't trust the internet for the correct translation of Hebrew, check with an expert first, something that I didn't do. I carved Elizabeth in Hebrew as I thought and even went that extra mile and painted the letters in silver. When I had finished, I got my little cherub Lizzie to pose with the carving. A little time after, a Hebrew scholar working for the Trinitarian Bible Society who saw the picture pointed out to me that the translation was incorrect, close but wrong. Oh dear, never mind, a valuable lesson was learned that day.

But on another occasion I carved another Hebrew word for an old friend Robert Bain. I used Oak to carve the letters and inlaid the letters with Blue Variagated Gold Leaf Substitute - in other words poor man’s gold leaf. The Hebrew word was RUACH, the basic meaning of the word is wind or spirit. But that doesn’t really give it justice. I will use Robert's description in his own words to give you the full meaning.

The word RUACH itself, to help in our understanding of the ‘beauty’ of the Hebrew language, especially in its relation to THE WORD of GOD [ELOHIM].

All the Hebrew letters and words are from a basic formation of PICTOGRAMS, RUACH being no exception. Within the word RUACH there is a link in the combination of the letters relating to ‘man’ [REISH] and ‘working outside’ [CHET], these are joined by the ‘and’ or ‘add’ [WAW or VAV in modern Hebrew], leading to the following explanation, as given in The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon, although there is much more of course.

The Hebrew nomads were very familiar with the wind patterns as they would follow a prescribed path indicating the coming season. From this word comes the idea of breath, as it is the wind of man, which also follows a prescribed path of inhaling and exhaling. 

So now you know. Thank you Mr Bain.

On two or three occasions I have been asked to carve verses for people who were leaving a certain church for pastures new. Sometimes to become full time ministers or just retirement. But whatever the reason, it's always been a pleasure to carve the word of God. If anyone reading this would like to commission me to carve something unique, just drop me a line.

God is not dead, but alive, active and working in Camberwell

To change the subject slightly, but keeping with the same theme. Having attended a church in Camberwell for over thirty years, it was often said that Camberwell and the surrounding area is one of the most densely populated areas in all of Europe. Not only that, for many years, especially since the end of World War II, the number of Christian churches has declined dramaticly. Churches have been turned into luxury flats, furniture warehouses, places of worship for other faiths or just knocked down. Having lived in the area of Camberwell and Walworth all of my 53 years, you could never describe it as the Bible belt of the south east. 

But since working as a carpenter in Camberwell over the last 5 years, my views have changed some what. A good proportion of the homes I have entered as a Mears operative have been ones that have had some kind of out would sign of a Christian faith. This can take many forms including signs on doors, proclaiming God’s presence in said home you are about to enter. Bible verses and crosses on walls, loud preachers on one of the God channels, filling the room as you carry out a repair. It can even take the form of someone you have never meet before, who wishes to bless you because you have done such a good job resealing their bath or removing the mould from their ceiling. 

But amongst all this blessing and God’s way of peace there is a more uncertain element. One home that I entered, all the internal doors were painted an luminous green colour. On these brightly coloured doors were giant hand painted black crosses and not painted that we’ll either. You needed sun glasses just to look at them. I was not sure if I was entering the home of a member of the KKK or some devil worshiper, whatever it was, it did not feel comfortable. On another occasion all seemed fine the tenant had God on her lips and the blessings on these nice men from the council, who had given her a new bathroom floor, bath and toilet. It made us feel like a job well done. Then as we were clearing up she spotted something she was not happy with. “Why are you not boxing in the big pipe behind the toilet, I don’t like the look of it, my children might stand on it”. “Sorry my love, but we don’t box in the big pipe that goes into the back of the toilet”. Very quickly we turned from saints to sinners and she turned from someone praising God with her lips to spitting out fire and brimstone on the Council. I am not happy. I am not happy! I am not happy! (she yelled) I am going to sue the council, I want what I was promised, I am going sue, sue, sue. What happened to good will to all men, I thought, as we quickly gathered our tools up and headed for the door. 

But I can honestly say that on the whole, there is a large genuine group of Christian people, who have come to my part of London from the four corners of the world seeking a better life, and who can blame them.

As I finish this latest blog, I have just completed another scripture carving. One Faith One Lord. Carved in walnut, from a tree in Kent that blew down in a storm, the tree lives on as does Gods word.

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. Isaiah 40 verse 8

A CARPENTER'S STORY - NOT JUST A WORD

In my three years at Barking and Dagenham College learning carpentry and joinery, we never covered the art of wood carving. We hung doors, built staircases, window frames, made a basic roof, built kitchen cupboards, created mouldings and cut all manner or joints. But we never did any wood carving, in fact I don't think it was even mentioned, except by me. Yet wood carving goes back thousands of years to old testament times. 

In the book of Exodus chapter 31 verses 1-5 we read: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, see, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

Go into many old churches and you will will see fine examples of carpentry and wood carving, some on a very grand and magnificent scale. But I suppose most people would not even notice the carving, except it was pointed out to them. Complex carving, all done by skillful hands, using the tools of their day. Tools which are pretty much the same as master wood carvers use today. My own church of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate has some incredible woodwork and carvings, the pulpit and the rood screen stand out in particular. During the time of Oliver Cromwell, many of these ornate wooden carvings and structures found in churches were destroyed. I believe it was felt by the the Puritans at the time, that these works of art, rather then bring glory to God, brought glory to man. People would be distracted by there surroundings and not be focused on worshipping God. Thankfully not all was destroyed and fine examples still remain to this day. If you your interested in wood carving and it's history, there are a series of programs on youtube to be found called “CARVED WITH LOVE”.

THE PULPIT, ST. HELEN'S

The second week of my carving class, I was joined by two other would be carvers. A lady from New Zealand, who was interested in carving spoons, and a fellow Londoner, who wanted to carve a big fish for his garden. The art of making wooden spoons is still very popular. Since man started using utensils to eat with, the spoon has been around. From what I know, and believe me, I am no expert, the best timbers to use for spoons are willow, poplar, lime and ash. I met someone once who made bespoke wooden spoons. They were beautiful, unique and when you touched them, it was like handling silk. He made his living by it, charging hundreds of pounds for a single spoon. My hope is one day to be able to make a living just by carving and making things out of wood.

The first letter I ever carved was the letter 'E'. Bill my teacher, had me draw a giant E on both sides of a piece of wood. The exercise was to on one side remove the 'E' from the wood, leaving a sunken 'E'. Then on the other side, remove the wood from around the 'E', so the 'E' stood up from the wood. This took all evening and looked nothing like I saw in Cris Pye's book. But is was my first attempt and I was not going to be put off at this early stage. Before I left that evening Bill said “Next week we can start you on a word, think of a word you would like to carve”. “A word” I thought. “Is he mad, I haven't learned the alphabet yet, let alone string a word together”. Bill gave me an idea as to what wood to look for at the local wood yard. One of which was lime a very popular wood with wood carvers. Lime is light in colour, easier to carve, often used by puppet makers because it's not too heavy. The famous wood carver Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) favoured lime.

VALLEY OF DRY BONES - Grinling Gibbons 

When I started to learn the basics of wood carving, what I wanted was my own tools, my own own set of chisels. But good wood carving chisels are not cheap at the best of times, let alone when your out of work, as I was at the time. Bill told me what were the best quality chisels to buy and roughly what they might cost. He also told me a good place to look for chisels was on ebay. So that is what I did. My funds were limited, but after much searching, I found a set of six Henry Taylor wood carving chisels. They were a pretty good make, second hand and no one was bidding on them. On advice from my wife, I put maximum bid in at the last minute. Seconds later I was the owner of my first set of carving chisels. The first of what would become many.

The following week my chisels arrived from ebay, and I managed to lay my hands on a piece of lime wood from Whitten Timber (no relation), up the road from where I live. But what word should I carve? My name perhaps, or one of the children's, Aaron, Shannon, Grace or Lizzie. No, if I did one kid's name I would have to do them all. In the end Judith came up with the word, and that word was Arcadia. Now if you were around in the mid 80's as I was, you might think, why do you want to carve the name of a pop group made up of members of Duran Duran. Well the idea had nothing to do with Simon Le Bon or any other member of the band. ARCADIA – is a Greek word meaning “an image or idea or life in the country side, that is believed to be perfect” As far removed from where we live in South London as can be. It was in fact the house name of my wife's grand parents who lived in Waterford, Ireland. I must admit having lived in this noisy, over crowded city of London for 53 years. A city I love dearly, the quite and peace of country side is very appealing.

Over the next 4 or so weeks my carving progressed and took shape, Arcadia began to reveal itself until it was finished. After sanding it down to a smooth finish, Bill suggested I should maybe gold leaf the letters, to make the letters stand out even more. Well once again governed by cost, I got some fake gold leaf, 10 sheets for under £5. That very first carving now hangs on our wall, waiting for the day we hang it outside our country cottage. Well that’s the dream that seems a very long way off. Or maybe I will have to take it to heaven with me and hang it outside my mansion in the sky.

Since that first word I carved some six years ago, I have carved many names, all with meanings, all with stories attached to them. My plan is to share those stories with you over the coming months. I want to finish this blog by telling you about about one of my very first commissions. 

Gary and Jenny Hayes have been friends of mine for probably 30 years. They have long supported my work, and purchased several pieces. But on this occasion they asked me to carve the name of there beloved son Matthew Stanley. In Hebrew the meaning of the name Matthew is: Gift of the Lord. In the bible Mathew was one of the 12 apostles. He wrote the first gospel account of the life of Jesus. 

Matthew and my son Aaron were born one week apart, both on a Sunday. This month of July 2017, they both celebrated there 25th birthday. The carving was for Matthew when he was 21, Gary and Jenny wanted an American feel to the carving. The family loved America and I am sure they still do. I came up with the idea of putting the 21 in a road sign style, like the famous Route 66. The wood I used was Iroko, a sort of Teak from Africa. It took several weeks to finish the piece, but to this day it remains one of the best things I believe I have carved. I think when you have a real love for something or the subject matter it comes out in the carving, or what ever art your producing. Whenever I see Matthew these day's, which is not very often, he always has a smile for me. God Bless dear Matthew.

BEN, MATTHEW AND AARON

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