The Rochester Flame

The provocative sculpture situated in the symmetrical center of the sanctuary wall facing the pews is known as the Rochester Flame. It was commissioned for the Bay Knoll congregation by sculptor Alan Collins, from Medford, Oregon.

A note from the artist, Alan Collins.

     "Fire is perhaps the most memorable visual form by which God has made His presence known to men. The burning bush, the guiding pillar of fire, the all-consuming fire on Mount Carmel, the tongues of fire at Pentecost and the eventual purification of the world by fire are pictures that come quite readily to mind.

     "Being symbolic, my representation of fire became formalized, differing from the fluctuating form of fire itself. An artist may frequently attempt to make a visual analogy between differing visual forms, creating a bridge that will unite seemingly disparate qualities to form a new reality.

     "In bringing together the two halves of my design I trapped a space that outlines the form of a wheat ear, the wheat that God will harvest when the chaff has all been burned. At the center of the design is a calm, stable form in clear plexiglass which I think of as the quiet flame of God's presence -- the still small voice at the heart of every fiery experience."

                                   -- Alan Collins

The Rochester Flame
by Robert Allen
Bay Knoll Historian & Poet Laureate

Was the flaming sword at Eden's gate
That first framed the power of God?
Or was it the fire that consumed Abel's lamb,
And proclaimed that offering good?

It spoke of God's power and hatred of sin
In Sodom's vale and on Carmel's crown
Revealing to all, the conflict we face,
In Ahab's fear and Jezebel's frown.

The flaming Shekina of His presence,
Marked Israel the favored of God,
That their praises of the Almighty,
Might proclaim a God that is good.

Then the cloven tongues of Pentecost
Filled hearts with one desire,
To tell of their Master's power to save,
And cleanse from Satan's mire.

No more are seen the cloven tongues,
Or the judgement working fires;
Through the still small voice in the heart of man
Speaks the God who never tires.

O'er the "Burned Over District" of western New York,
Has this voice and its counterfeit wrought
As truth followed truth in developing all
Of the last day message men sought.

With Methodism's tent meetings,
With their beckoning sawdust trail,
Were followed by Smith's Cumorah,
But did Miller's preaching fail?

No! Edson's cornfield revelation,
Down Port Gibson way,
Explained to the grieving faithful,
What God was trying to say.

Challenged by the Hydesville rappings
Was the struggle on Mt. Hope,
Of Truth's flame shining through misfortune,
Revealing that for which men grope.

On the streets of this fair city,
Where the faithful heard God's Call,
Burned the flame they gave their lives for,
Is now sculpted upon our wall.

May each who gaze upon its form,
Feel the burning in his heart,
Of the flame that shaped earth's history,
And will provide it a whole new start.

For couched within this flame of Power
Is truth's seed as the "still small voice"
That when eaten as the "Bread of life,"
Will miraculously nourish the penitent's choice.

Yet this flame has burned with power,
Through all history we proclaim!
May it guide us ever heaven-ward,
The message of the "Rochester Flame."