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