About Lux Mundi, the Sculpture of Jesus at Solid Rock Church


In 2010, Solid Rock Church of Monroe, Ohio, United States, commissioned me to design a sculpture of Jesus to replace their original sculpture that was destroyed by fire caused by a lightning strike.

I envisioned the new 52 ft (15.8 m) tall sculpture to differ from the original one designed by Brad Coriell, who depicted Jesus’s bust with his arms raised towards the heavens. My design depicts Jesus’s full body with arms lowered in a welcoming gesture.

For initial inspiration for Lux Mundi’s design, I translated parts of the surviving Greek texts of the New Testament. Using two themes drawn from the texts: agape (“affectionate love”) and exousia (authority), I posed Jesus stepping forward with his arms in an embracing gesture. To reinforce the themes, the sculpture's shapes are modeled with a warm feeling and Jesus’s commandment from John 15:12: ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ is featured on the sculpture’s robe.

The Gospels are concerned with Jesus’s message and not his physical appearance (in fact, not a word is mentioned about his looks). In keeping with that spirit, I avoided creating a specific likeness of Jesus- the physical features that are generally associated with Jesus, such as the long hair, beard and robe, are merely symbolic on this sculpture.

Lux Mundi which will be made of polymer composite and steel, will include a lightning rod to help prevent the same fate of its predecessor.

Ultimately, I hope Lux Mundi will be a constant reminder for all of us to get along with each other.

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