Gods Glory
Block Number: 52“God’s Glory”
First Baptist Church on North Main Street in Marion first organized in 1862 and having just celebrated its 148th anniversary, joined the McDowell Quilt Trail by placing a quilt block on the front entrance of their Children’s Center, located on Logan Street.
Dr. M. Scott Hagaman, pastor, first became interested in the Quilt Trail when he saw a quilt block on a local business. After discussion with the deacons, the decision was made to approve proceeding to procure a block for the Church. He contacted church member Rose Wakefield, who teaches quilting at the McDowell Senior Center, with the idea of maintaining downtown participation and involvement in the community by displaying a block. A committee of four was then formed, three of which are quilters and one interested in design. They researched patterns, and after numerous sketches and color schemes, came up with a meaningful motif and theme for a 4’ x4’ block. Subsequent approval by the church deacons resulted in the intricate and colorful block named “God’s Glory,” which is block number 52 on the McDowell Quilt Trail.
The center of the block is a three-dimensional cross tinted in three shades of blue, which means “trustworthy” and is considered to be the color of Mary, mother of Jesus. The cross is encased by various shades of radiating yellow and gold, the warmth and brilliance symbolizing Jesus, “light of the world”. The border surrounding the cross consists of maroon open Bibles, which represent the Book of Life, its white pages spreading the Good Word.
Each of the four corners has a Christian religious symbol on a background of purple, the color denoting royalty. The upper left-hand corner contains the white Star of Bethlehem, revealing the birth of Jesus Christ. The gold intertwined ovals, or Celtic Knot, located in the upper right corner, represent the Trinity: unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The lower left-hand corner contains a golden Ichthys, the ancient Greek word for fish. The letters in the Greek word are the first letters in each of the words Jesus Christ, God, Son, and Savior. The symbol itself was a simple drawing of a fish used by early Christians as a secret sign during a period of persecution. It is also a reminder that Jesus fed fish to thousands and called upon His followers to be “fishers of people”. The lower right-hand corner contains that of a white dove flying towards the cross, representing the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus after his baptism, approving His mission in the world. It symbolizes peace, purity and innocent love.
The block was constructed by Mike Lucas and installed by him on August 7th. The Certificate of Authenticity was presented to Pastor Hagaman by Jill Lucas, Chairperson of the Trail, on Wednesday August 11th.
