With its 2006 Corporate Gift, the ECW of the Diocese of Alabama made a gift of a cross in memory of the late Rt. Rev. Furman C. Stough, Eighth Bishop of Alabama, which hangs in the center window of the Chapel at Carpenter House.

The cross was designed and executed by artist Cordray Parker, who has described it as follows:

The bronze cross and Argentium Sterling Silver Corpus blend two things stylistically.  The design of the cross on the outside of the window repeats natural materials to blend with features of the garden: canes, and a wreath recalling green spiny vines.  The Corpus on the inside of the chapel is a contemporary figure taken from a drawing for a sculpture for a church in Brooklyn.  The “S” positioning adds a Gothic element.  The hands are curved down in a welcoming position, sacrificially reaching out to us.   The silver contemporary pieces give solidity against the glass, but not detail. 

L to R:  Then Diocesan ECW President Alleen Cater, Bishop Parsley, Russ Chambliss, then Chairman of the Advent Garden Committee, and artist Cordray Parker

One ECW board member notes that

for her it is an image of

“The Lord of the Dance.”

The following quotes are taken from a sermon delivered by The Rt. Rev. Furman C. Stough at the 165th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on February 10, 1996:

“I am a Christian only because of Jesus Christ-for no other conscious reason. I find Him unforgettable.  I cannot get Him out of my system.... I do not find it easy to think of God at all except in terms of Jesus Christ.... Just as the Himalayas are dominated by Everest, so the Scriptures are dominated by Jesus.  He is the summit, the focal point of attention, the one because of whom I read the rest.  Seeing Him there, as He is, the only response I can make is one of love and personal commitment....  For in Jesus I find certain realities which may be roughly summed up as: meaning, deliverance from anxiety, the reliability of God, encounter, and final hope.”