St. Alban's Episcopal Church
Ken Garfield 3-12-2014
“Homeless Jesus” depicts the Christian savior huddled beneath a blanket on a park bench. Photo: courtesy Timothy Schmalz/RNS.
In a small college town 20 miles north of Charlotte, N.C., “Homeless Jesus” is provoking more conversation than a month of Sunday sermons.
The life-size sculpture depicting a figure asleep under a blanket on a park bench lies outside St. Alban’s Episcopal Church. The nail-scarred feet peeking out from under the blanket are the only indication that Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz is making a religious statement about Jesus.
The hollow, bronze piece bolted to the park bench is a $22,000 gift from a church member intended to support public art.
That’s a small price to pay to get people thinking about what it means to be a Christian — and what it means for “Homeless Jesus” to take up residence in a community of 270 townhomes and single-family homes, said the Rev. David Buck, the rector of St. Alban’s.