Bottle Chapel of Flat Creek

10/19/2023

Night lit Bottle Chapel with essay from Bright Blue Cottage Blog

photo essay The bottle Chapel of Flat Creek is an open-air private chapel built by trash-artists Jean and John Hill. It is constructed from recycled glass bottles set in white Portland cement, on t…

09/01/2023

The Chosen: message for today

08/30/2023

7 years ago: we were in the process of building the Bottle Chapel of Flat Creek. This is how the magic happens, folks! Slow and steady. 2 old people with a dream! Foolish enough to try!

08/20/2023

I've been watching "The Chosen" series. It's very good. It encourages a person to imagine what it was like to be one of the original Disciples, face to face with Christ Jesus. It is very well done. It portrays Jesus' teachings, parables, and message of forgiving love... AND it's a great way for a new or curious Christian to become more familiar with the Gospels. HOWEVER: REMEMBER it IS a DRAMA WRITTEN TO EMBELLISH THE WORD OF THE GOSPELS. MANY OF THE EVENTS PORTRAYED DID not ACTUALLY HAPPEN EXACTLY AS SHOWN OR PERHAPS NOT AT ALL LIKE THAT. Characters may have been totally different: for example, Matthew is portrayed as being as an annoying slightly autistic man of small stature/ he may in fact have been a tall man of commanding presence and highly developed math skills: All we know for sure is that he WAS a Tax Collector, was despised for this, was called by Jesus and became a Disciple and Author. So I recommend watching 'The Chosen', but please do not CONFUSE it with the facts of the Bible. (My opinion) Worth WATCHING!

08/01/2023

Prayers for our Nation's children today as many of them return to school: prayers for their success, happiness, emotional and physical wellbeing, for their friendships, families, & communities. Prayers for their security. Let no harm befall them! For our teachers and staff: gratitude. Prayers for the blessing of their work: May the lessons they teach and the examples they provide inspire the hearts of children and ignite their curiosity. May Our Lord be the heart and flame that guides the education of our children! Amen

07/29/2023

7/27/2023: A Night Lit Visit. Evelyn and Jimmy Childers brought their family reunion group to visit the Bottle Chapel. They arrived as dusk in order to see it in both day and night light. What a wonderful family! We thoroughly enjoyed visiting with them and sharing the Chapel. --always a delight when others make the long journey to Flat Creek to see the Chapel. We love meeting them and sharing the fun of the Chapel, especially at night when it SHINES in the DARKNESS!

06/08/2023

We have returned from a wonderful vacation in Sicily--saw amazing sights....6-5th Century B.C. Greek temples, 3rd Century B.C. Roman villa with mosaic floors, Norman era Greek Orthodox golden mosaic inlay murals in cathedrals, intricate Moorish architecture, unique & beautiful Sicilian Baroque cathedrals, lively city street markets and romantic mountain villages-- aquamarine sea and lava caves= UNFORGETTABLE! Met delightful new friends... A Fabulous time!!! But HOME looks GOOD! As 'Dorothy' said, "There's no place like Home."

08/25/2022

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has nor overcome it. (John 1:5) l(Bottle Chapel of Flat Creek mantel and Christ Jesus statue is spot-lit in a rainbow of colors at night. Flickering firelight lanterns and uplit cross frame the statue against Tennessee Flat-rock stone fireplace.)

07/26/2022

Ladies Tea Party and visit to Bottle Chapel--a special time of sharing and laughter! (Oh, let's find excuses to gather together, to share our lives and live abundantly! Let's have Tea Parties, and stroll through the garden carrying bright Japanese Umbrellas. Let's wear swirling summer dresses, and laugh like children again! The cares of the weary world have not defeated us: no! We have learned to cherish the precious and good moments of Life.)

04/26/2022

4/25/2022 I invited my dear friends, the Emmaus Ladies from Tullahoma First & Kings Cross came to High Tea and Bottle Chapel. This was a gathering of very special women, who have shared YEARS of sweet friendship, fellowship and Christian service through the Walk to Emmaus of Highland Rim. (thanks to Betty Bertrand and Marcia Murray for photos!)

04/17/2022

He has risen! Happy Easter everyone!

04/05/2022

A Lenten insight///Today, someone asked me how we ever thought-of the idea of building a Bottle Chapel out of recycled trash bottles: Now, I'm not a deep Christian philosopher, but it seemed pretty simple to me. It always seemed to me that the symbolism was pretty easy to see: We were taking throw-away empty trash bottles, cleaning them, polishing them, repurposing and using them to build something beautiful that is filled with light and that stands as a testimony to God.
Isn't that what Christ Jesus does with all of us? He takes worthless, used up empty lives, cleans them up, washes them, and repurposes them, then fills them with new light and builds something beautiful with us, and puts our lives to work for God's purpose.
That's what the whole message of accepting Christ into your life, and living a God-purpose driven life is all about. Period. That IS the message of the Cross.

04/03/2022

Today: I was mowing the lawn when a family of Mennonites from the neighboring road walked over and asked to visit the Bottle Chapel. It was a big extended family with parents, grandparents, children and a dog-- maybe 14 in total. Such lovely friendly people. May I share that is an amazing blessing to have built this weird Bottle Chapel out of recycled trash bottles, now made into something beautiful,... and that the holiness of this wilderness sanctuary 'speaks' to the 'soul' of people of all denominations. No agenda, no rituals, no denominations, no expectations: just a place to come and experience a connection to The Infinite One God, however each person is called.... Who knew, that when we built this chapel, that it would be a holy gathering place for so many? We built for ourselves, but it seems to be a thing much bigger than we could have imagined...We are humbled and amazed.

03/08/2022

A Lenten insight: this is an amazing and informative article that will give understanding to Judas's payment of 30 pieces of silver for betraying Christ Jesus.... well worth the reading! -- an "A-Hah!- read!" (thanks to James Frame for posting this) --Jean Hill

According to Exodus 21:32, if an ox gored a neighbour’s slave to death, the owner was obligated to pay the neighbour thirty pieces of silver — that was the value of the dead slave. Thereafter, it became symbolic of contempt.

At one point in his ministry, the prophet Zechariah was asked to play a messianic role (Zechariah 11:4-14), meaning a role that the Messiah Himself would play in the future, the role of the good shepherd. For a period of time, Zechariah was to feed a flock destined for slaughter. He then was to approach the Jewish leaders and say that since they did not agree to a price in advance, they should pay him what they thought his labour was worth. If it was worth something, they should pay him accordingly; if it was worthless to them, it was acceptable to pay him nothing. To show their contempt for the prophet, the leaders deliberately chose to pay him thirty pieces of silver, conveying to Zechariah that his work among them was not only worthless but, more insultingly, was worth only the price of a dead slave. In verse 13 of the passage, God sarcastically said: “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them!”

Zechariah prophesied that someday the Jewish leaders would sell out God Himself for the price of a dead slave. This was fulfilled in Matthew 26:14-16 when the chief priests deliberately chose thirty pieces of silver to show their contempt for Jesus; thus, they sold out the Messianic God-Man for the price of a dead slave.

As tragic as this is, ironically, the thirty pieces of silver came from the chief priests, so the money ultimately came from the Temple treasury. One major purpose of the Temple treasury was to purchase sacrifices. Though it was not their intent, the chief priests purchased a sacrifice, specifically, the final sacrifice for sin.

02/24/2022

Prayers for Ukraine and Our World: Today O God who lives and reigns forever, Christ Jesus of mercy and understanding, Holy Spirit that flows through our world and in each of us tethering us to You, we lift up our prayers to You... even as Putin the Russian leader has invaded Ukraine. We pray, first, for the people of Ukraine, that you will shelter them, protect them, and comfort them. May you give them peace through faith in you, and also courage and strength in this time of terror. Bless this nation. Hear the cries of these people. WE pray intensely for the World Leaders who assemble, right now, and debate actions that will deter this aggression: We pray Lord God, that You will empower them with wisdom, insight, resolve, and effective action. Wars are not Your Will: they are the product of power-hungry glory-seeking leaders. You desire that mankind should live in peace and abundance in harmony with praise to You. Yet, as humans, we know that warful aggression cannot be stopped by ignoring it, or turning away in fear. Now is the time when our World most-needs You to guide our leaders to know 'when to fight and when to turn away'. Give them insights and tools that will end this without bloodshed of innocent people...Fill them with Your wisdom and fill them with accord, that all they do in this time will effectively deter Putin's aggression, bless the Ukrainian people and thus, lead our world out of this conflict. O God, only You in Your wisdom, can intervene with Divine Authority. You are Master of the Plan. Only You are mighty. Only You are our hope. We pray all these things and all else to You Mighty God, in the Name of our Lord, Christ Jesus, confident of the action of Your Holy Spirit present in our world. Amen

01/29/2022

A little snow transforms everything! I am amazed and awed by the beauty of this place, my Bottle Chapel. I'm grateful to my husband for working with me, to create this: THIS which is much greater than the sum of our combined efforts. This place that has an ethereal quality of light, space and time contained within its walls...this blessed serene sanctuary... It is more beautiful than I ever envisioned. Seeing it covered by snow this morning took my breath away. How can I be so blessed as to live in this hollow in Flat Creek Tennessee, listening to the flow of creek over rocks and gazing at this amazing structure of mortar, bottles, stone and light? Right here, in my own land? I am thankful for this place and this moment in time.

01/03/2022

January 3, 2022 Beautiful Snow on Bottle Chapel of Flat Creek

12/10/2021

2021: once again this is the prettiest and best Christmas decoration in our house! The Manger Scene in the front window. Yes, every room has a theme and Christmas decorations, but this is favorite (as it SHOULD BE!). The Living-room is decorated around the theme, "O Holy Night", with a life sized creche' in the alcove, a painting of angels and violins on the mantel, and a 10foot Christmas tree decorated with Italian angels, violins, antique gold ornaments, baroque ribbon, and Victorian glass icicles.

04/04/2021

He is RISEN! Happy Easter to all!

04/03/2021

New addition to Outdoor Kitchen: a Firepit by metal artist Corbett! looking forward to many campfire gatherings around this cozy laser-cut orb of fire! (Fanciful motif of fairies, toadstools and trees. We celebrated FirstFire with friends Linda & Gill Ramsden) When we saw this creative firepit at the Linden Art Festival, we couldn't resist adding it to the landscape: funky, fun, and functional art! A masterpiece. There is nothing like sitting around a campfire!