I want to be clear: I love stained glass windows. I love the colors and the way light can play through those colors at various times of the day. I am drawn to the idea that they, like their ancestor frescoes, were probably originally used as ways of teaching the scriptures to those who did not have education or the ability to read. I am fascinated by the art of them…..how they take tiny pieces of colored glass to form something larger, creating faces and landscapes, evoking emotion and a sense of awe. I am inspired by them and have spent many hours of my life staring into the art and the stained glass and marveling at the artists who created them.
But over the last week I have spent several days in a worship space designed in the round. Light wood adorns floor and ceiling. White walls give way to windows….clear, glass that allow me to see outside, to see the stark, black trees against a winter sky. If I am on one side of the worship circle, I can see all the way to the lake where ice houses dot the frozen water and trucks and cars move across the surface, something that still fascinates and brings out fear even after all the years of living in a Minnesota. Talk about an affirmation of faith.
If I sit on another side of the circle I can see the trees rising up the hill. Squirrels do acrobatic feats that cause great intakes of breath from this human one. I am plunged into awe for this creature who lives with such courage and vulnerability. What a teacher this bushy tailed animal is! The trees the squirrels use as a play set are bare or have single leaves dangling in the wind. Why have they held on so long? To what are they making a last ditch effort to cling? More lessons.
A couple of weeks ago I sat in our large, church sanctuary where the stained glass windows surround us like a technicolor womb. Span the images in a slow circle and you will move from the birth of Jesus, through the major events of his life, until you arrive at the resurrection window. Along the way you can glimpse the apostles and my particular favorite, ‘the women’s windows’, depicting four strong women of the Bible. It is an unusual occurrence to have a set of windows dedicated to women, something I always point out to visitors. These four women make up the north window and are best seen while you are leading in worship. I consider it a good reminder and a powerful, watchful presence.
Periodically, the stained glass windows are taken out for cleaning. Scaffolds are built and the windows are lifted and taken….someplace….where this cleaning happens. One more thing to be astonished about in the world. How do the workers do this? What are the risks? How is it even possible? But it is and this particular Sunday, one large window on the northeast wall was gone. Instead of stained glass, I was graced with the clear, blue winter morning sky. At one point clouds floated by but mostly it was just the pure light of a cold, January morning.
Sitting there, singing the hymns, praying the prayers, being present to the scripture and its illumination by the preacher, I was struck with how the whole sanctuary seemed fuller and more whole to me. The world was not shut out by the colored pictures of ancient story but was instead open to the beauty of the world. I dared to glance every now and then upward toward the clear glass in hopes of a flock of birds flying by or even the white wisps of an airplane on its way to some country far away. The way in which the window provided a frame for the world seemed an even greater point of connection with all the wonder of Creation and therefore the Creator.
Perhaps the worship leaders of days gone by were right to cover over the windows so those in worship could not see outside. I have to admit to the distraction afforded by my ability to see farther than the room in which I sat. And yet, if the point of our faith is to take it into the world, would it not be a good and right thing to have an eye on that outside world even while in worship? A theologian whose name is escaping at this moment once said we actually have two sacred texts from which to study and experience our walk with God….the scriptures and Creation. My brush with clear glass windows has proved this to me this week.
And I am eternally grateful……