THE DEDICATION OF THE SCOLPTURE AND PAINTINGS
ON THE THEME OF GHRIST TEACHING, BY JACK GREAVES
Broad Street Presbyterian Church
Columbus, Ohio
May 13, 1979
John M. Buchanan, Minister

Every group has its saints, persons whose strength and leadership and
character influence the group Long after they are gone. Broad Street Pres-
byterian Church, after 92 years, has many saints and this morming we are
privileged to remember several of them. We are to dedicate to the glory of
God the sculpture and painting on the theme cf Christ Teaching, in memory of:

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Wilson Crawford
Mr. and irs. John Hughes Hislop

John Hughes Hislop, Jr.

Jeanne Crawford Hislop

Thomas Hughes Hislop

The entire work is presented to Broad Street Presbyterian Church by
Mrs. P, Webster Huntington, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford and sister of
Catherine Hislop, and Mrs. William G. Pace EII, daughter of Mrs. Hislop and
granddaughter of Mr. and Mra. Crawford.

Frederick Crawford was a Trustee of this Church years ago; the Chancel
of this Sanctuary was given in his memory by his wife after his death.

Mrs. Crawford died in 1955. Her love for this church was legendary.
The Crawford car was dubbed "The Gospel Wagon" because of the stops it made
bringing people to Sunday evening services at Broad Street Presbyterian Church.
Her minister, at the time of her death, Raymond V. Kearns, wrote about her:
"I am grateful that I came to know her and something of her great Iove and
davotion to her church and her Lord. Many times when I enter the sanctuary
on a Sunday or again on a week day when no one is there, I am conscious of
the great part she played in making possible that beautiful place of worship.
All of us at Broad Street Church will ever be indebted to her in so many
ways..."

Jack Hislop was a prominent Columbus business man, an Elder in this
congregation whose common sense caused him to believe that we would need
the lot east of here and against considerable opposition ~ to arrange for
the church to buy it. It was a prophetic gesture in that the Christian
Education building now stands on that property.

His wife - Catherine Crawford Hislop, died on August 11, 1976, She
was the kind of person who made this a great church: generous, a supporter
and enabler of many of the fine things that happen in our community in edu~-
cation, with young people, in the arts. Like her mother before her, she
loved this Church, honestly and deeply. I was privileged to know her before
she died and I will never forget words said about her at her funeral by
another former pastor, and her friend, J. Harry Cotton. ‘Most of what I know
about the Christian faith,” he said, "I learned not from books of theology,
but from the lives of Christian people - like Catherine Hislop."

Mr. and Mrs. Hislop had four children: Mrs. Pace; Thomas Hughes Hislop
was an usher and a Trustee at Broad Street Presbyterian Church; John Hughes
Hislop, Jr. died in childhood and Jeanne Crawford Hislop while im college.

It is appropriate for those of us who use this church and love it today,
to remember those who loved it before - and whose faith and commitment are
built into the very walls.

The sculpture we dedicate this morning is the result of more than two
years of study, planning and work. The artist, Jack Greaves, formulated
the basic concept and, of course, brought the project to its obvious con~
clusion. More about Mr. Greaves is contained in the bulletin this morning.
He will be available, along with his wife, Mrs. Huntington and Mrs. Pace in
Palmer Hall for you to greet following the service. In addition, he will
speak in Palmer Hall on May 27 at 10:00 on the subject of his sculpture,
Christ Teaching.

This project has brought into dialogue two old friends who have not
often been speaking in recent centurfes: Art and Theology. At the time of
the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century, the two were pulled apart.
The enthusiastic Reformers, reacting against what they regarded as super-
stition and thinly veiled paganism, cleansed their churches of all art:
paintings, sculpture, even stained glass. The vehicle for God's word, for
Protestants, became the spoken word. We were even suspicious of good music.

Concentration on the spoken word and the written word has been our
genius. It has also been our poverty. And now, happily, some four centur-
ies after the fact, we are becoming free and secure enough to consider again
the ways the mystery and majesty and glory of our faith can find artistic
expression.

There is no question of idolatry. This work does not contain the
essence of deity. It deserves respect only because it is good art. What
it does, is point elsewhere ~ to the reality behind all reality we call
God: to the good news of God's love; and to the imperative under which we
place ourselves, to live in that love and to express it to others.

The work speaks for itself. 1 shall speak about it - not today ~ but
in two weeks. JI invite you this moming to experience it; to walk past it
after the service and to greet the artist and the donors.

I speak for all involved in saying thank you to them: to the artist,
his wife and helper; to the donors whose love for their families and this
church is contained in the-work. And ~ for the lives we remember ~ for
this glorious addition to our church ~ thanks be to God.

PRAYER

O God, giver of all life and father of us all, we thank you for the lives
of those we remember this moming. We give thanks for their faith and love
and the memory of committed discipleship which each of them, in a special way,
left to this church. We are grateful, father, for the gift we have been given,
for the special sensitivities of the artist, for the affection of the donors.

O God, we are grateful for mystery and majesty and beauty and truth, and
for the human spirit which in its striving for them, is seeking for you,

God our father, in the hallowed memory of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Wilson
Crawford, Mr. and Mrs. John Hughes Hislop, John Hughes Hislop, Jr., Jeanne
Crawford Hislop, Thomas Hughes Hislop, we dedicate this work now to your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.