The Joy of Giving

Sculpted by Mehri Danielpour Weil

God can do tremendous things through a person who doesn't care who gets the credit!

An example of this selflessness is found in Luke 21:1-4, where Jesus stood watching masses of people flowing into the Jerusalem temple just as millions of people today stream into their own houses of worship. The rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate, the proud and the humble, the self-confident and the insecure-all were there that day.

As was the custom, the offering was collected in a box as people entered into or departed from the temple. The rich took great delight in watching their sizeable donations fall into the offering box within eyeshot of everyone. But, out of the massive crowd, Jesus noticed just one person—a woman who’d been without a husband and provider for a number of years, yet still managed to sustain her meager existence with extremely limited resources. Jesus watched the widow reach down for her tiny, tattered bag, hold it up to her weary face, peer in to see its contents, and then tip it upside down to allow two tiny coins to fall into her open palm. Without hesitating, she dropped both coins quietly into the collection box.

Having observed this, Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly...this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she...has given everything she has” (Luke 21:3-4, NLT).

The Joy of Giving bronze statue, sculpted by Mehri Danielpour Weil, is a lovely, yet simple, depiction of the story in Luke 21 about the woman who gave all that she had to God...not a portion of abundance...but all that she had. This bronze is a tribute to the tens of thousands of persons on the lower end of the economic scale who give their financial support week after week, month after month, year after year to make the ministry message of the Hour of Power possible.

About the Sculptor

Born in Teheran, Iran, Mehri Danielpour Weil immigrated to the United States with her parents and two brothers at the age of eight. Raised in New York, she studied there until 1965 when she moved to Florida with her husband, Sayid, and their two children, Debbie and Richard.

Most of Mehri's sculptures since 1968 have been commissioned work including over two hundred busts of children, adults, heads of state, corporate executives and well-known sports figures. Today she enjoys sculpting large architectural figures, including the life-size bronze she created for the Crystal Cathedral in 1999, The Joy of Giving, now located in the ministry's Welcoming Center in Garden Grove, California.

Christ Rising

Sculpted by Frederick Hart

This wonderfully flowing and anatomically perfect display of the human form, by one of America's pre-eminent contemporary sculptors, brilliantly combines two of Christianity's most recognized symbols. Here, Frederick Hart takes the shape of the cross and the image of the crucifix and transforms them into a crucified, yet living Savior, rising with his arms and pierced hands outstretched, forever reminding us of the cross and the priceless value of his sacrifice upon it.

This beautiful piece, which was a gift from architect Dale Johnson, can be seen in the Chapel in the Sky at the top of the Richard Neutra designed Tower of Hope on the grounds of the Crystal Cathedral.

About the Sculptor

Frederick Hart (1943 - 1999) was an American sculptor who was best known for his public monuments and works of art in bronze, marble, and clear acrylic (a technique he pioneered and coined as "sculpting with light"). Hart is recognized for creating work that is classically traditional in its adherence to the idealized human figure, radical in its sensuality, and innovative in its materials.

He gained international stature for his The Creation Sculptures on the west façade of Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The Creation Sculptures were completed in 1990 almost twenty years after Hart began work on them. In 2004, Frederick Hart was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States Government - only one of numerous prestigious awards Hart received for his work.

Hart's legacy is diverse and widespread. He was an inventive revolutionary. His works are physical and sensuous, yet spiritual, direct, graceful and subtle. Though his life was cut short (he died in 1999, two days after doctors discovered he had lung cancer), the influence and beauty of Frederick Hart's work lives on through his art, rippling out from the Crystal Cathedral and around the world.