King David

Chapel on the Mountain

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Chatlos Memorial Chapel

Series: Old Country Churches

Before we left the property, I wanted to take one last look at the stone chapel. We’d attended a weeklong “intensive Bible study” at the Billy Graham Training Center, The Cove, near Asheville, North Carolina and now it was time to head back home.

When we arrived in Asheville a week earlier, we’d come to The Cove to have a look around a day before the seminar actually started. As you enter the entrance to the campus, the first thing you see off to the left is the chapel sitting up high against the mountain side with its eighty-seven (87) foot steeple crowned with a golden cross reaching another eight (8) feet up into the blue sky.

This chapel has to be one of the most beautiful in this country. Everything about it seems to have been designed and built for quiet meditation and prayer. Since it was Saturday, my idea was to attend services at the chapel on Sunday morning. But, when I asked the docent at the chapel about services, she told me that no services were held at the chapel. She said that sometimes visitors were inspired and stopped to sing a few hymns and to pray but actual services were held only on special occasions…maybe a Christmas candlelight service or something similar.

The training center does have a chaplain who is on duty on the campus, but I do not think he is a “pastor” in the sense of shepherding a congregation.

On hearing there would not be a service on Sunday morning, I was very disappointed but still, it is a beautiful chapel, and it does invite quiet meditation. As I wrote this, I got to wondering about the difference between a “church” and a “chapel” …. hadn’t thought of that before. So, I looked it up online (of course) and found that a chapel is a place of worship & prayer, primarily Christian but some synagogues have chapels, and chapels are usually small. A chapel may be within another larger chapel or within a church (think of a Catholic church with its smaller chapels to the side of the main sanctuary) or part of another building altogether that is not necessarily a church (think chapels within hospitals). It seems that a chapel refers primarily to the building or place. A church, on the other hand, can refer to the actual building where Christians meet to worship, the period of worship as in church service, a Christian organization, and/or the collective body of believers. (All this info comes from Wikipedia – see notes 7 & 8 below).

I learned something…but back to Chatlos Memorial Chapel at The Cove. The name comes from one of the main benefactors who donated funds for the chapel, The William Chatlos Foundation. When the Grahams purchased the 1500-acre mountain site at Porter’s Cove (the complex has since been expanded to 3500 acres), the plan was to build a training center where believers could come to learn about God and study the scriptures.

“My grandfather said that the only textbook at The Cove would be the Bible,” said Executive Director Will Graham. “That’s what we study from. We’ve been through all 66 books.” 2

The chapel, completed first and dedicated in 1988, includes four (4) stories, each level having a specific function. The ground floor of the building follows the contour of the mountainside and is used for training and seminars (capacity: 50-60). All training was conducted here until the more spacious training center was completed in 1991.

One level up and you will find a museum floor – a multi-purpose area that is also used for informal receptions and fellowship (capacity: 180). This floor provides access to a large outdoor deck complete with rocking chairs allowing contemplation while you enjoy the beauty of the mountain forest (and I did – who can resist a rocking chair?). The displays contain photos and memorabilia of the various Billy Graham Crusades and his lifelong ministry.

One floor up is the main chapel floor. The official entrance to the chapel is at this level although you can access the bottom floors from separate entrances at the sides of the building. The sanctuary can accommodate about 220 people. Its ceiling is forty (40) feet above the floor which is made of “heart-of-pine” which could have been harvested right there on the property (although I do not know for sure). There are five (5) windows on either side of the sanctuary that are an impressive twenty-eight (28) feet tall.1 No stained glass here – the view of the mountain forest outside would seem to demand that the glass be clear.

The pews were originally used at the Royal School for the Blind (circa 1790) and shipped to the site in North Carolina from England.5  The pulpit made of white oak was purchased at a secondhand shop in England and is estimated to be more than 200 years old, maybe as much as 400 years old.1&5

Oh, the stories that could be told about the sermons that were preached at that pulpit over the years. I do the math – even two hundred years back would have been about 1823. Charles Spurgeon was born in 1834 – what a thought to think that Charles Spurgeon might have preached at that very pulpit! But it is sad that few, if any, sermons are preached from that pulpit today.

We take a quiet moment to say a prayer at the pulpit adding ours to the thousands of other prayers that have been spoken at that pulpit and in that chapel. Moving to the top floor upstairs from the chapel is the prayer room just beneath the steeple. The “loft” is small and intended to be another quiet place for prayer and meditation.

The exterior of the building is clad in blue fieldstone quarried there on the mountain. A wooden cross which adorns the side of the chapel was created by the three (3) rock masons who added the cladding of stone to the chapel.  

The chapel is beautiful in its simplicity and elegance, and it is easy to discern its intended purpose per Ruth Graham as a “haven for retreat, rest, relaxation and renewal.” 2 Ruth’s Prayer Garden surrounds the chapel providing even more opportunities to sit, relax, and wonder at God’s glory here in the mountains.

Believers come to this training site from all parts of the world to learn about God and to study the scriptures. Most visitors will come to the chapel at some point during their stay at The Cove – some will pause to sing a song or two – some will simply find a quiet place for study and reflection – almost all will stop for a moment as we did to say a prayer and thank God for this place and the opportunity to worship here.

As we departed our footsteps echoed throughout the empty chapel. While I felt the peace and solitude of the beautiful place, I was saddened that the chapel would remain mostly silent – no boisterous children in Sunday School singing about a boy named David at the top of their lungs, no women bustling about preparing potluck offerings for a good fifth Sunday fellowship dinner, no hands raised to heaven as the congregation sings “Blessed Assurance”9, no weddings, no christenings, no funerals, and rarely a preacher bringing the gospel while praying in his heart that just one more soul would be saved, Lord, and our hearts be blessed. In its solitude, the chapel will forever remain a chapel, pristine and lovely, but will never have a congregation and will never evolve to be a church.

Chatlos Memorial Chapel is located at 1 Porters Cove Rd. in Asheville. For more information, visit www.thecove.org.

Statement of Faith link (from The Billy Graham Training Center)

How to Know Jesus link (from The Billy Graham Training Center)

Sources for Information:

  1. The Chatlos Memorial Chapel: A Look Into the Past – Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove; Decision Magazine; 1989;
  2. The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove – Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove; Decision Magazine; March 1, 2018
  3. Our Story – Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove
  4. 7 Things You Should Know About the Chatlos Memorial Chapel & Visitors Center – Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove
  5. Faith & Footprints: The Chatlos Memorial Chapel – Asheville, NC | Osprey Observer; January 28, 2021; Kelly Wise Valdes; https://www.ospreyobserver.com
  6. The Cove Celebrates 25 Years of Ministry (billygraham.org) (This site includes photographs of the chapel being built.)
  7. Church – Wikipedia
  8. Chapel – Wikipedia
  9. Blessed Assurance > Lyrics | Frances J. Crosby (timelesstruths.org); 1873; Public Domain

O Little Town – We Were There (Part 2)

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Series: Israel 2022

O Little Town of Bethlehem6

Yesterday I gave you a little bit of Bethlehem’s history; today, I give you a little bit about our visit there last February.

Outside the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square, our Palestinian Christian guide gives us an overview of the church. While in Bethlehem, our Israeli guides were replaced with a Palestinian guide. The Church of the Nativity was the home church for our guide – his family had attended for many generations. But he said that he and his immediate family now attend a church closer to their home for regular services.

Our first glimpse of the Church of the Nativity was from Manger Square which is the site visited on Christmas Eve by thousands of Christians who come to celebrate the Lord’s birth. You enter the actual church through a very low door known as the “Door of Humility” which forces you to bend down to enter – being made to be humble as it were.

Entering the Church via the “Door of Humility”

But the story behind the door is much more interesting but not very spiritual at all. Sometime after the Ottoman conquest in 1516, the church had fallen into decay and was being ill-used by the locals. The large main doors were walled up to prevent people from riding their horses right into the sanctuary. The small, low door kept the horses and other animals out of the church.2 While the original intent of the small door may not have been about humility, it does feel a bit like you’re going into a very sacred place when you bow down to enter that door which opens up inside to a large open sanctuary.

Looking back at the “Door of Humility” from inside the church. The stone archway gives you an idea of that the original entrance might have been. Looking at the changes in the stonework helps to imagine the location of the large wooden doors of the original church.

I have only been into one Orthodox church in my lifetime and never into one so old. This church is the oldest Christian church in Israel and, in terms of active continuous worship, possibly the oldest in the world.2 Being someone who grew up in a little country church in the US with very little embellishment besides possibly a large wooden cross over the altar behind the pulpit, this church seemed a bit overwhelming to me. The floors were marble flagstones with marble columns lining the aisles up to the altar which was all gold and silver and lit strategically to enhance the glow and sheen in the flickering candlelight.  

Inside the Church of the Nativity (Eastern Orthodox). The marble flagstone floor is not the original; there is supposed to be a trapdoor that lifts to show the original mosaics of the Justinian-built church, but it was not open for us the day we visited.

We were advised by our Palestinian Christian guide that the gold screens behind the altar had tarnished to a dull grey over the years but were being restored to their original gold & silver especially in the past couple years while there were few, if any, tourists during the Covid pandemic… that we were lucky to see everything “gold” again.

A closer view of the gold & silver panels at the altar. On the left side of the photo, you can see three people (one standing just left of center and two others sitting on the floor) working to restore the patina on the panels. At the far left on the bottom, you can see the tarnished panel not yet restored.

There were sanctuary lamps of gold and silver hanging everywhere…. hundreds of them. I was quite fascinated by all these lamps…. they appeared to be lit with candles or, maybe oil. I have read that the lamps signify the eternal flames and everlasting light that is Jesus.2 Who lights these lamps every morning…or whenever they go out? Does some priest come in with a very tall ladder every morning to ensure the lights never go out? If the lights do go out, does some poor caretaker get fired? There were just so many of them and I saw no hint that anyone was actively monitoring them while we were there. (This is the way my mind works.) And, yes, there were electric lights too.

Sanctuary Lamps in the Church of the Nativity

The walls near the ceiling were covered with mosaics depicting saints or scenes of the life of Christ and there were many old paintings and other gilded icons everywhere. The marble columns also included life-size portraits of saints although many were covered with graffiti from crusaders, Ottomans, pilgrims, etc.2 We humans seem to have a need to leave our mark everywhere we go – you know adding our own “Kilroy was here” – even in places where we know we shouldn’t.

Columns inside the Church were painted with portraits of saints (official), and some include graffiti (not so official) including the artwork on the right which might have been added at the time of the Crusades.

The Grotto of the Nativity is behind and underneath the altar. To descend to the cave, we were directed into a line to the right of the altar, past the charity box, and back to a narrow stone stairway down to the lower level and into the cave.

Probably the most ornate “Poor Box”
that I have ever seen.

The actual place of the birth is curtained off in a little marble lined alcove with ornately embroidered curtains. The “nativity” marked by a 14-pointed silver star. The star was placed there by the Catholics in 1717 and is inscribed in Latin – “Hic De Virgine Maria Jesus Christus Natus Est – 1717” which means “Here Jesus Christ was born to the virgin Mary – 1717”.2 The 14 points symbolize 3 sets of 14 generations in Christ’s genealogy (see Matthew 1 for more on the lineage of Christ).  The 1st set of 14 generations are from Abraham to David, the 2nd set is from David to the Babylonian captivity/diaspora, and the 3rd set from Babylon captivity to Jesus’ birth.2 Fifteen (15) silver sanctuary lamps hang around the star – 6 representing the Greek Orthodox Church, 4 for the Roman Catholic church, and 5 for the Armenian Apostolic.2 In the middle of the star is a circular opening so that pilgrims and worshippers can reach down inside the star to touch the actual stone floor of the cave where it is said that Mary actually laid down to give birth.

The Nativity where (per tradition) Mary laid on the cave floor and delivered the baby Jesus. Although visitors are no longer permitted to do so, the hole in the star would allow visitors in the past to reach through and touch the floor of the cave.

But not today – no touching anything or reaching into the opening is allowed. As I bent down to see into the nativity alcove and get a photo, I was advised to bow down before the nativity.  I certainly didn’t mean to be disrespectful, but bowing was out of the question (I would have had some trouble getting back up at my age) so I squatted down as low as I could and got as much of a look as I could before I was hurried along so the next person could do the same.

Directly across from the nativity is another spot that is called the Grotto of the Manger where it is said that the manger stood where Jesus was laid after he was born.2 Across from that is the Altar of the Magi where the wise men were to have stood to see the newborn king.2 I will admit that I am not really sure where the Altar of the Magi was (is) or even if I noticed it. Per my recollection of scripture, the wise men visited Jesus and the family sometime after the birth in a different location altogether (Matthew 2:11).  Perhaps, the altar there is just symbolic of the visit. So, I have little recollection of that third altar being pointed out in the short time we were in the grotto which is very small and crowded and the line of people waiting is long and the actual time for each person to view the nativity is very short. (Bow down, look, get up and move on.) After only a few minutes, we departed the grotto via the stone stair directly opposite and identical to the one we used to come in.

The Grotto of the Manger. Per tradition, the is the spot where the manger stood and where Mary placed the baby Jesus. If you look to either side of the altar, you get a glimpse of the original cave walls.

We spent some additional time in the church taking photos (yes, everyone needed a selfie in front of the altar) and admiring the mosaics, paintings, and carvings.

Madonna and Child. Note that the hands and halos in the painting have been covered with actual silver.

We exited the church to the left of the altar and entered the small courtyard garden just outside the Catholic church, St. Catherine’s. It is a newer church dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria in 1347.12 It was closed to the public on the day that we visited although I believe that parishioners could enter for services.  I would certainly have liked to see inside the church. St. Catherine’s building is directly connected to the Church of the Nativity and built over the series of caves that include the Nativity of the Grotto.2

Roman Catholic Church, St. Catherine’s that is connected to the Church of the Nativity. It is also built over the system of caves where it is thought that Mary & Joseph took shelter and Jesus was born. Services also continue to be held in this church although it is not as old as the Church of the Nativity.

The caves underneath the two churches are connected via a tunnel that is kept locked.2 St. Catherine’s is noteworthy in that St. Jerome is said to have lived there during the years when he was compiling the Latin Vulgate translation of the Christian Bible. His “office” is said to have been in one of the caves under the church.1

I’d like to say that I had some deep abiding spiritual experience when we visited the site of the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem, but I didn’t really that I recall. I found the Church & Grotto of the Nativity extremely ancient and interesting from a historical sense and a religious sense. All the lamps with candles and the bright shining silver & gold of the altar screens gave the place an ancient and eternal feel and made it easy to believe that this was, indeed, a sacred place where the birth of Jesus had occurred; but it was all a bit foreign to me with my simple country church background. And there just wasn’t really any time to stop and meditate on the significance of the place, which might have made it more enlightening and spiritual for me.

Crucifix over the altar in the Church of the Nativity

Then again, maybe my emotional response is just evolving slowly over time. I marvel that I was there – in Bethlehem – where Jesus was born – not at that specific place maybe but we know he was born somewhere in the city. And I actually walked through the Church of the Nativity, entered the cave, and saw the spot – quite possibly the actual spot – where he was born and laid down to sleep in a manger while a star shone brightly overhead and angels sang to shepherds out tending their flocks in nearby fields.  

I am left with a thought that brings me back to David and God’s promise to him. David – a shepherd boy born in Bethlehem who was raised up by God to become King of all Israel….and just as promised, some thousand years later, a King – the King – Jesus – gave up his throne above to become a lowly shepherd to his followers… the birthplace of a shepherd who became a king and a king who became a shepherd.

The Good Shepherd – Jesus – who was raised up in death to forgive us all and give us eternal life…born in Bethlehem, the City of David.

“Rejoice in the Lord Always.

I will say it again.

Rejoice,9

Mosaic of an angel near the ceiling in the Church of the Nativity

Sources for Information:

  1. The Holy Land for Christian Travelers, John A. Beck, 2017, Baker Books, Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, MI, www.bakerbooks.com , USA, Dan, pages 89-91
  2. Church of the Nativity – Wikipedia
  3. Mosque of Omar (Bethlehem) – Wikipedia 
  4. O Little Town of Bethlehem – Wikipedia
  5. Bethlehem – Wikipedia
  6. O Little Town of Bethlehem > Lyrics | Phillips Brooks (timelesstruths.org)
  7. Rachel’s Tomb – Wikipedia
  8. Micah 5 (biblehub.com)
  9. Philippians 4:4
  10. Biblical Israel: Bethlehem – CBN Israel
  11. Currier and Ives – Wikipedia
  12. Church of Saint Catherine, Bethlehem – Wikipedia