Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd
Moorhead, Minnesota

In his original 1965 building proposal for Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, architect Edward A. Sövik suggested that the cross on the church’s south exterior façade be repeated on the inside chancel wall. "This cross is made a part of the south wall, exposed inside and out, as a symbol to the church community and surrounding community," he wrote. Ultimately, however, the interior cross was eliminated  from the plan, and a series of five seasonal banners (designed by Philip J. Thompson in consultation with Cyrus M. Running) was fabricated.
 

Three decades later, ideas began to emerge for replacing those banners that had served so long and well. As it had done on several earlier occasions, the church's Art and Design Committee met to discuss options and to seek from the congregation both consensus and support for a major chancel project. Responses gathered over a period of several years indicated an overwhelming interest in an artistic representation of Christ as the Good Shepherd that might also incorporate the so-called "Good Shepherd Cross" 

Subsequently, the committee retained David J. Hetland, a noted liturgical designer and former member of Good Shepherd, to act as its consultant. His research and creative contributions were ultimately shared with the congregation through a series of publications and live forums. Some months later, at the committee's request, Hetland submitted a series of sketches ranging in style from abstract to more traditional images of Christ the Good Shepherd. More discussions and numerous revisions ensued until one design finally emerged. It was presented to the congregation and was received with widespread enthusiasm and pledges of support.
     For this complex project, Hetland had proposed a unique combination of materials including a welded, tubular steel framework into which unilluminated stained glass and Italian mosaic would be set.
     While the decision to proceed with such a large effort may have required a leap of faith on the part of Good Shepherd's membership, by the time the work was completed, it had become an act of faith for Hetland and many of his colleagues. "While it was in separate sections," Hetland noted, "this was just another challenging project. But once we began assembling the pieces, the figure of Christ seemed to come alive for us and we could feel how powerful it had become."

Familiar references* to God as shepherd or Christ as good shepherd are found throughout the Bible. Indeed, from its earliest visual appearance in the darkness of Rome's catacombs, Jesus as shepherd has become one of Christianity's brightest and most beloved symbols -- a powerful figure of both promise and sacrifice, at once protective and comforting. In the Shepherd of the Cross depiction, Christ appears as a post-crucifixion figure, with square stigmata (wounds) in his hands as witness to his earthly suffering. Victorious over sin and death, he has been resurrected from the constraints of the cross.
      We, too, and generations yet unborn, are pictured in this work as members of the Shepherd's church, the sheep of his flock. through the largess of God's grace, we are drawn into the loving arms of hte Good Shepherd, assured by his promise of eternal life and sent out into the world with the command, "Feed my sheep."


For three full days in mid-December 1999, crews from Hetland Ltd. and Dakota Construction of Fargo painstakingly positioned and secured the Shepherd of the Cross to the chancel wall. Spanning 20 feet across and weighing more than 2,000 pounds, the work was installed in eight interlocking modules of tubular  steel and secured to the wall with 50 anchors. Leaded glass was then affixed to metal tabs welded within the framework. Panels of 24-karat Venetian glass mosaic and Byzantine smalti had already been set into the halo, head and arms. Finally, the 17-foot laminated oak shepherd's crook was mounted to Christ's right hand.

* See shepherd references in: Gen 49.24, Ps23, Ps28.9, Ps78.53, Jer 31.10, Eze 34.11-16, Zec 13.7, Mt 10.5,
Mt 18.12-13, Mt 25.32-33, Mt 26.31, Mk 14.27, Lk 15.3-7, Jn 10.7-17, Jn 21.15-17, Heb 13.20 and 1 Pe 5.3.
 

Shepherd of the Cross
was dedicated to the glory of God on January 30, 2000