An arresting statue by Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz has spent two weeks in front of St. Stephen’s Church on Main Street, part of a tour of Episcopal churches in Connecticut arranged for the statue by Don Burr, a parishioner of Christ Church in Norwalk. — Macklin Reid
He’ll be gone soon, the gray rumpled figure, the beggar with hand outstretched before St. Stephen’s Church.
“It’s a traveling statue,” said St. Stephen’s rector, Whitney Altopp. “It was in East Norwalk before, in the Episcopal church there, Christ Church.”
The arresting figure is moving on to a church in North Branford. The statue was going to moved in the middle of this week, but that was pushe dup to sometime Friday. It will be appearing at churches around Connecticut — those that would like to host it.
The artist, Timothy Schmalz, is a Canadian known for his Christian religious sculpture, including one of a robed man similar in many ways to the one that was in front of St. Stephen’s, but sleeping on bench. That sculpture is known as “Homeless Jesus.”
The statue, Ms. Altopp said, was inspired by a passage from the Bible.
“The passage I’ve been referring to in our conversations in the congregation is Matthew 25:37-40,” she said. “The whole parable is verses 31 to 46.”
That passage says, in part:
Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
The parable isn’t one of the Bible’s more obscure or difficult passages, in Ms. Altopp’s view.
“Any of these parables in scripture about judgment, we try to make sure we’ve got it right,” she said. “In this one, the literal interpretation seems to match other of Jesus’ teachings, about caring for those in need.”
The statue was brought to Connecticut by Don Burr, a parishioner at Christ Church in East Norwalk.
“I first came to know of the sculpture when I stumbled upon a photo of Timothy’s other sculpture ‘Homeless Jesus.’ I was doing research for the ministries of Christ Church and our common mission ‘network’ to house those without homes at the former Grace Church site,” Mr. Burr said in an email.
“I worked with the artist’s representative for about one year to arrange the tour of the parishes in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut.”
Although the statue’s tour is largely at Episcopalian parishes, reflecting Mr. Burr’s involvement, he has said other churches are welcome to host it. He may be reached at dburr@christchurcheastnorwalk.org.
What kind of reaction has the statue gotten?
“It’s been varied,” Ms. Altopp said. “For the most part people have liked it. We did hear from one person that it was a little too scary. That comment was respectfully received.
“I’ve gotten a lot of comment when I’ve been out in town: ‘What is that?’ And once I tell them it’s only going to be here a couple of weeks, it’s ‘OK, good.’”
The night the statue arrived, about two weeks ago, the police paid a visit.
“I saw them walking along the front lawn in the rain,” Ms. Altopp said, “and I leaned out of the rectory front door to ask if they were going to see the sculpture. They asked, ‘Is that what that is? Someone called us about a person sitting outside the church.’”
First Selectman Rudy Marconi said his first experience of the sculpture was similar — it may have been the same night.
“It’s kind of eerie. When I first saw it, it looked like someone was kind of hiding themselves,” he said.
He was in his car, waiting at the traffic light.
“I sat at the light, it was raining,” he said.
He didn’t realize it was a statute, at first.
“I thought, I’ll pull over and get the umbrella and make sure that person is OK,” he said.
“Think about it in a dark, rainy situation.”
If the statue has a couple of weeks when it’s not booked, Ms. Altopp said, she might invite it back for a return stay at St. Stephen’s.
“What would happen if people saw it there again, later?” she said. “Would they think, ‘That again?’ Would they be glad for the reminder? I wonder.”