St Jules Church Layout and Entrances
The floor plan (top-view) of St Jules Church is cruciform, or Latin cross shaped. There are three entrances to St Jules Church. The main entrance is from the east and continues through the narthex, or vestibule, into the nave (or main wing) and up to the transept which runs at the foot of the sanctuary. There are two side entrances, one on the north and the other on the south. Through either of these entrances, one approaches the sanctuary via the transept.
God Created Three Voids: He filled two voids and left one for man to fill
In the Book of Genesis it is written that God created 3 voids. Two of the voids, the sky and the sea, were created before God created man. God then filled these voids with substance, the sky with celestial bodies and birds in flight and then filled the sea with swimming fish and other sea creatures. God filled both of these; void of the sky and the void of the sea.
On the sixth day of creation God created man, his last creature, in His image and likeness. On the seventh and last day God created the third void, a day to rest, that is called the Sabbath. But God did not fill this last void. He left it up to His creature, man, made in His image and likeness, to fill this void. Sabbath was created by God for man, as a day for man to rest after a full week of work and toil. God left it up to man set aside this day in order to fulfill man’s covenant relationship (obligation) with Him, to fill the void of the Sabbath by resting, praying, loving God back, and honoring God in their covenant relationship. It is man’s responsibility to fill the void of the Sabbath by honoring their covenant relationship.
Man’s Journey from Humanity to Divinity
While man is born in the image and likeness of God, man enters the world in complete humanity, his spiritual life has not had a chance, of course, to be nurtured and formed. But since God made man in His image, in time, man uses his intellect and will to make decisions, to analyze and choose. When man reaches the age of reason he has the freedom of choice to decide, to choose freely between right and wrong, between what is “of the world” or what is “of God” (goodness). As man’s consciousness forms, man will often experience conversion (metanoia), followed by ‘never ending’ transformation (metamorphoo), that is, detachment from material, emptying (kenosis) himself of the “worldly”, and choosing to be closer to God by inviting the Holy Spirit into his heart, mind, and soul.
The six long stained glass panels at St Jules Church depict the creation stories of the Book of Genesis and Man’s Journey from Humanity to Divinity. Upon entering St Jules Church from any of the three entrances there are seen 30 inch wide panels of stain glass artwork made up mostly of a combination of blue (representing humanity) and red (representing divinity) tiles. The tiles are aligned with more blue near the entrance, then gradually, with more red tiles mixed into the panels as one gets nearer to the sanctuary. (Notice that there are still some blue tiles intermixed with the more predominant red ones the nearer one gets to the sanctuary. Imperfect humanity (blue) is always with man until man finally departs this life.) God’s filling of the two voids are inlaid with stars and other celestial objects to fill the void of the sky and with fish to fill the void of the sea.
Man’s destiny is determined by his own choices in embracing (or rejecting) his personal relationship with God. Using all five senses, man chooses to come upon holy ground on the Sabbath to hear the Word. to see the consecration of the Body and Blood of his Savior on the altar, to smell, touch, and taste His Presence in the Eucharist. This is man’s initiation of his faith to know, love, and serve God. Man is called to repeat this initiation on each Sabbath, thus fulfilling his obligation to fill the void of the Sabbath.
At St Jules Church, hovering above the altar, which is set on the fourth step of the sanctuary, is an atrium shaped sky-lite made of stain glass artwork. Inlaid in this artwork is a “spiral galaxy”, the opening to the universe where heaven meets earth on the altar of the Lamb of God. Placed on top of the fifth step is the Tabernacle of the Real Presence (Holy of Holies) flanked on each side by cherubim, and to the left side, the statue of the Virgin Mother of God (Theotokos), the New Ark of the New Covenant.