“A liturgical piece of furniture has to do a lot of different things,” says designer and artist Erling Hope. “It has to support the activity of the church. It has to build community and bring people together. And, ideally, it has to orchestrate enchantment.”

On Sunday, November 9, Senior Pastor the Rev. Dr. Scott Black Johnston unveiled Hope’s latest creation: a beautiful new baptismal font. Situated at the front of the Sanctuary by the pulpit, the new font features an octagonal design with a wide surface area. Its size allows a number of people to gather around for baptisms and other rituals. The font also has a bowl inlaid with a mosaic depicting fish in a phyllotaxis (spiral) pattern around an eight-pointed star.

Drawing the children in attendance at the 11 am worship service around him, Black Johnston lifted the curtain masking the font and revealed the latest addition to the Sanctuary to great applause.

“The fish is a symbol for Jesus,” said Black Johnston during the unveiling, “and it’s also a symbol for everybody who has been claimed by Jesus. Whenever you walk by, I want you to feel free to touch this font and look inside.”

A repurposed treasure

Though the font is new to Fifth Avenue, it may seem familiar to many of our members. Hope and his team built the font by refashioning the pulpit from our Kirkland Chapel, currently undergoing a renovation.

“When I visited the church and saw that beautiful pulpit, which had stood witness to so much” Hope says, “I knew we had to repurpose it for the font.”

Turning the pulpit into the font presented some unique challenges. Only two of the pulpit’s original panels could be used in the new font. Hope had to fashion and stain new sides to blend with the pulpit’s original wood. The font needed to be placed on wheels so it could move easily around the church, but the wheels needed to be discreet and fit in with the overall design.

“Erling and his team did an amazing job marrying different elements together,” says Eric Daniels, an architect and member of the chapel renovation task force. “They crafted new materials to harmonize with the pulpit’s original design. The scale of the pulpit really expands what a baptismal font can be. It translates perfectly to the wider Sanctuary. The font’s eight sides both invoke the traditional shape of a baptismal font and the symbolic connection of the number eight with the Resurrection of Christ. The fact that the font is mobile is also a great blessing.”

Remarking on the font’s size, Black Johnston says “It should be a reminder, a very visible, big reminder, of this important part of the Christian life. It should be something that you have to walk around and notice and not be able to slip easily by,”

Generations of love

“This was a family affair,” Hope says. “My parents were married in Kirkland Chapel. My daughter helped me dismantle the Kirkland pulpit and my son helped me build the font. That was touching for me, because many generations of love have gone into this pulpit. Now, as a font, many more generations will draw from it.”

“We are so grateful to Erling and his team,” says Black Johnston. “They have given us a gift and helped preserve a wonderful part of our church’s history. Thank you to Erling and everyone who has supported this project. You have provided the church something that will be a wellspring of love, acceptance, and community for generations to come.”