If Stained Glass Windows Could Talk

The sun broke through the clouds just as I was looking at the stained-glass windows. Sitting in the back pew I was able to see each window light up and cast its colors into the sanctuary as if it were performing its own sacred dance. Several of the windows displayed the donors name, while most were given in memory of a loved one.

I learned that the church celebrated turning one hundred years old this year. For 5,200 Sunday’s, numerous special holy days including weddings and funerals, the beautiful stained-glass windows shed their radiance, reverence, and peace over them all.

Much like people, these windows, will lose an inch or two of height over time. Without restorative surgery they will become too frail to support their own weight. The church trustees, acting as their healthcare proxies, have a difficult decision to either approve the surgery or call hospice. I know the stained-glass windows are inanimate, but I was musing what if they could give a testimony like the saints they were named after.

Imagine a first-hand account of that dedication Sunday in 1922 when World War I had just ended, and the names of those lost in the war were read and remembered. It was not long before the great depression hit, but the windows continued to glitter hope for the hungry and unemployed. Another World War, and the streaming colors seemed to wave like a flag. What followed war, the windows say, was an explosion of weddings, then baptisms, and soon after an educational wing was added to the church.

The stained-glass windows are old now, and the joints are so stiff they cannot open any more. They mostly attend funerals now, welcoming and celebrating the saints with wisps of color. The few people they see on Sunday are aging too, some have joints that need the help of a cane or a walker. Still the same, the voices from the pews sing praises and the stained-glass windows radiate their hues that echo and compliment the hymns.

I am not sure about the future of those stained-glass windows as, like the people in the pews, they are not getting any younger. It could be that the windows will see a decommissioning service, or they could witness a resurrection. The future of these lovely stained-glass windows, as it is for the church itself, is in our hands. Doing nothing will guarantee the collapse of the windows as well as the church. It would be better to repurpose those windows rather than let them decay. As stewards we have options and responsibilities that need action. The Foundation is here to help churches act with faithful decisions that honors the past as well as plants a future for us all.