Worship 101 Stained Glass Windows - Surrounded by Story

This episode originally was not playing for people, so this is a rebroadcast. 

Stained glass windows surround the congregation in worship. In this episode, we explore the stories behind these windows and how they  connect with the culture of the worshiping body of people at St. John Lutheran Church in Mars. 

Learn more about St. John Lutheran Church at stjohnchurchmars.org or follow us on Facebook.

Scripture quotations from the COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. © Copyright 2011 COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

So, welcome to another episode of Facets of Faith, our one oh one worship series. This week we are in the sanctuary of St. John Lutheran Church, and before we even get to the patterns of worship, there's some ways that the space influences how we worship and what is a value within the worship timeframe and service and all that stuff. So one of the things that we're going to look at first and foremost is the space and the windows and the way that that informs our worship. So with me joining or joining with me, I have Keith here, and Keith has been with us. You will recognize his voice as soon as he speaks. He's been a member of Facets of Faith since the inception, and we're so glad to have him joining us as we consider the space of worship.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Hi, everybody. Thank you, Pastor. So you mentioned the uh the the windows in the space. So as I've been a member of St. John Lutheran Church for just about 20 years now, and not just at this church, but every other church I've been at, I've wondered the stained glass windows. It's a pretty unique uh piece of architecture uh that seems to exist in in churches. So just generally question uh or a general question for even for my own benefit. Why stained glass windows? Where did they come from? What's the purpose of them? Do they tell a story? What's the background?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

So stained glass windows um stem out of a very ancient, ancient tradition of having artwork in worship spaces. Before the technology of colored glass, they had mosaics, which would be like little pieces of colored tile or paintings covering the walls and things like that. And then as colored glass technology became a thing, that became more of a way of celebrating the artwork within the worship space. And it all stems from this idea that literacy is not a guarantee. Um, especially in ages past, people couldn't necessarily read. And so they used the artwork to help teach the Bible stories, to teach the faith through pictures, and that's really where stained glass got started. And there's obviously then the practical element too, where stained glass lets in light, and so it helps brighten the space up, but it maintains that ability to visually tell the stories of the faith.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Nice. So to that end, I have been, as a somewhat personal aside, being a member of this church for some time. One of the most amazing things about this particular church is one of the pieces of stained glass in the back, which we'll get to in a minute, where we will have a Sunday morning worship service. And it just seems that at the perfect time, God Himself parts the clouds and the sunshine the sunshine comes through and it enlightens and it comes through that that particular um uh uh piece of uh architecture and it brightens to your point, it brightens the worship space. It's it's overt, it's obvious, and it it is actually quite moving. So I'm very interested to hear about all of the pieces of art that we have in this in this space. So to that end, as a question, what can you tell me about the stained glass windows at at our church? When were they put in? They were here when I started, and that back in what the early 2000s. Yeah. So have they been part of this church for 125 years or were they put in recently, or what's the what what do you know about them?

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Yeah, so before we actually get to these specific um windows, you mentioned how uh inspiring it is when the light shines through them. And if you look at church architecture in general, by and large, one of the primary functions of church architecture, windows included, is to help inspire people to think about God and to worship God and to be in awe of what God is up to in the world and in nature and in the Bible and everything. So I'm glad that you have that connection with the windows because that's exactly what they're intended to do. And you did not prompt me to say that you're gonna be able to do it. I did not totally random. I did not. Um so we have 14 stained glass windows in this sanctuary space. Um, some of them are more obvious than others, but 12 of them um tell different stories of the life of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus on earth. And as best I can tell, all of them, all 14 of them, were put into this church in 1985. So this sanctuary itself was built in 1951. And then I'm not sure what the prompting was behind actually putting stained glass windows in. I think it was just frosted windows before that. I think. Um, my guess is because it is a beautiful part of church architecture, and the church, as they were continuing to grow and um find their space and develop their space, this was something that they wanted to make sure was a part of their worship space.

unknown 5:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Any observation about the differences in the stained glass? Like the the that do they tell a story? What is the what is that story? Why pick these particular ones, or is that part of what we're gonna get to next?

SPEAKER_00 5:31

I mean, I think that's that's a great segue into what I think we should talk about next, and that is the specific windows. Um, because while I don't have any documentation as to why these stories were picked, uh these stories do tell a larger story, and they do surround the church, this congregation, with these particular touch points of Jesus' ministry on earth. And so that's something maybe we can figure out is what we think they have to tell us. So the windows go sequentially around the room, uh which I realize as you're online watching this, you can't tell what that looks like. So you'll just have to trust us. Um we have at the very beginning, there's a picture of the birth of Jesus, and it is just a nice simple picture of Mary and Joseph by a infant toddler-ish Jesus. Um fairly readily seen. You can always tell Jesus in stained glass window and church artwork because Jesus has a halo of some sort plus some sort of cross shape within that halo. Um Saints in general have halos, and then Jesus gets that extra little cross shape too. So we see that toddler infant Jesus with a little cross-shape halo there, and that's where obviously the whole Jesus ministry on earth began, was at his earth. So it seems like a good place to start, right?

unknown 6:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Start at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

And if we, you know, for me personally, I know the Christmas Eve worship service that we do is very powerful. So I I think that one's a pretty good home run.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

That sounds good. Um, the next one over is actually the story of Jesus in the temple as a child. And that's the story where uh Jesus and his family were traveling, they lose Jesus for a little bit, they're poor Mary and Joseph are in an absolute panic, and they find him in the temple, and he says, Didn't you know I'd be in my father's house? Oh, snarky Jesus. Um and so we see Jesus teaching who I presume to be rabbis in that space, and he's seated, which would be the position of a teacher in that pos in that time. I mean, that's really the only story of we have Jesus as a child, so that's there. I don't know why else we might have.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

What do you think? Well, from my I mean, from my perspective, I have taught our Sunday school and our confirmation kids for uh at least a few years now. I don't want to date myself, but I like to tell the kids that the I I like to lean into the kind of current day uh vibe of what that would mean. So respecting your parents and you know, did Jesus did this thing and he made maybe Mary and Joseph a little bit grumpy. And I kind of playfully poke into that. Obviously, I'm not judging Jesus, but um I think that can have some um validity and some uh connection to the folks here. Plus, you know, we take the the faith formation of our children very seriously here at St. John. So I think that is a powerful example of um uh of what we think about our children and and what they mean to our congregation. Cool.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Um and then next we have the image of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. And I mentioned earlier that general saints you can tell because they have a halo, and then Jesus has the cross. And you can see John the Baptist has a halo around his head, whereas Jesus has the halo with the cross. There's also a bird in the picture, um, which is understood to be the Holy Spirit coming down in the baptism scene, and you can see the bird is actually carrying um or has, I'm not sure which way it goes, a halo with a little cross and it's symbolizing its divine entity also. Um and this I know is a very popular story, a much beloved story, where we remember remember Jesus' baptism and that humble moment in his ministry.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Yes. And very similarly, we take baptism very seriously as a as a Lutheran tradition and here at St. John. I love uh the way that you bring baptism to our to our space. You have some of our very young worshipers kind of play in the water and make it um you know, make it personal for us. So I think it's a good one to have as well.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Yeah. Uh next, it's a little hard to tell what that picture is because you just see Jesus sitting or squatting uh on a rock of some sort with some people around him. And but that is understood to be Jesus uh Sermon on the Mount or Jesus teaching. It's a plane in Luke, it's a mountain guy in Matthew. Same story basically. But that's Jesus' first public teaching within the Gospel of Matthew is in that scene.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

So the Sermon on the Mount. Yes. Or the plane, but that doesn't roll off the tongue like it.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Right, it doesn't roll off the tongue as easily. And the Sermon on the Mount includes like the Beatitudes and you and yes. Exactly. So that's how Jesus begins his ministry in the Gospel of Matthew. Teaching. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

We take that seriously here. That we do. That we do.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Uh but the next one we have is its title is Jesus Heals the Sick. And you see Jesus standing over someone on some sort of bed or stone slab or something like that. And there's lots of stories where Jesus heals within Scripture, and so I don't know that this one is necessarily specific to any one of those stories. Um, but the idea of Jesus healing the sick, Jesus being present with the sick, I think all of that is wrapped up into that image.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Since we keep you're explaining the the imagery, and I I seem to feel like we've fallen into a pattern of suggesting why that might be relevant relevant to us here at St. John. I know we currently, and I assume that that is a tradition that may have existed for the entirety of the church, here, this congregation, I know we take very seriously our sense of community with one another, our our our family. I mean, I I have said that many, many times to just not my wife, but those uh my you know my fellow congregants, when when there are folks that are sick within our congregation, even outside of the congregation where where there are individuals that we just know, and we're bringing bringing those those thoughts and those prayers into this worship space. So we do take the healing power and message of of Jesus and of God very seriously. So I can I can definitely see where we have where we would have purposely picked that particular story, yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

And actually, if you think back to um we're recording this on a Sunday afternoon, and so the gospel reading for today's sermon or today's gospel reading is very fresh on my mind. And in today's gospel reading on June 14, um, we actually have this story where Jesus is said to be going out through all the towns curing and healing people, and then he turns right around and he sends the disciples out to do the same thing. And when we talk about disciples, we're not just talking about the 12 people who ate dinner with him, we're talking about us too and how we are also called into that ministry of tending to the sick.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

You don't expect me to actually raise someone from the dead, though, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:46

No.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Okay, good. I don't think I have that in me.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

I also don't expect you to like lay hands on someone and for them to be miraculously healed, but to accompany people who are sick and to help them find the resources that they need for healing. Uh that's that is part of our call.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Yeah, and I say that is a little bit of a joke and a jest, but the reality is, I mean, we are caught to your point, we are called to be present with one another. So, and yes, we don't have to have those same powers, but just being with someone when they need to be sat with is very can be very powerful. Yes. Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Speaking of, the next story that we have is actually one that's not a uh a story of Jesus specifically. And so this next window actually doesn't even have Jesus in it, and it's the story of the Good Samaritan. So we see a cup of a man helping another person who is obviously weakened in some state as he's kind of leaning on the other person as he's uh a little bit slumped. And that I think, I think if I may speak out of turn, I know this has been your part, but I think that flows nicely from that Jesus healing the sick into what we were just talking about, where we participate in that call of tending to the sick.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yes, absolutely. Um we just talked about the meal trains that we have done for as long as I can remember, uh, the food pantry that we have, um, that is, you know, I know very well received by some some folks in the community. Yes, I think we do do a good job of of that.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yeah, so I think that that being what the only parable that's actually in the windows is significant and also fits right in with the values of this congregation, as they've been for the past 120-some years, and as I anticipate they will be for the next 120-some years. Yeah. So we have a couple windows that I would be willing to guess the majority of our current members don't really know that they're there because the way our sanctuary is set up, you actually our main entrance is actually towards the front of the room. And then the entrance that's back by Beaver Street, there's a little area. It looks like a hallway, it's known as a narthex. It's kind of this in-between space between outside and the sanctuary. And in the narthex. It's not like an airlock. Yes, like a church airlock. I suppose you could say that. Because they actually started with that sense of when you would come in and out with the cold air and whatnot. And so you did want to kind of have a buffer zone to kind of keep the sanctuary at a good temperature. So, yeah. Okay. A holy airlock. Um, so in the narthex are two more windows. One is kind of tucked by the stairs up into um uh an upstairs area that we have, and that is the story of Jesus with the children. And so, in a very typical way that you see this imagery, you've got Jesus, and then you've got lots of little kids kind of surrounding him, and he's you know, graciously accepting them and welcoming them into his space.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Yes. So every Sunday morning we have children's sermons. Um, we do not start obviously start that with you. It's been a well-worn tradition for as long as I can remember. And as we mentioned earlier, we we value the input of our children very much. It's I love coming to church on a Sunday. I mean, it's as I stand right underneath one of the stained glass windows with Jesus on it. I I love the chaos of the children. I love hearing the crying, the the bottles of water that drop on the ground, the the crayons and pencils that roll down the aisleway. That's that's happy, joyful noises that that just make me want to come to church the the following week. So, yes, we take our children very seriously.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

We do, and that story actually has often been used to talk about how Jesus welcomes people who are in any way, shape, or form um put on the margins or considered not powerful or considered weak or anything like that. And as a congregation that strives to, you know, show Christ-like acceptance and kindness to everyone, our cake congregation motto, um, I think that story also helps us branch out into that too, also.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Then the other one we have back in the Narth X that we don't tend to see as much. Um, is the entry of Jesus. You saw this recently, I don't remember what that was.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Yes, the entry of Jesus. So he's on a donkey, so that would be his entry into Jerusalem on Holy Week. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Right. And so that actually begins a small series of Holy Week imagery. And I think as a Lutheran congregation, that makes a lot of sense because we don't just jump from um Palm Sunday into Easter, or we don't just kind of pluck Easter out of the rest of the gospel, but we really sit and dwell in the entirety of Holy Week, from Jesus entering Jerusalem on the donkey all the way through the Last Supper, the crucifixion, and then ultimately to Easter.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yes. And we do a good job, uh, in fact, a very powerful job. One of my um it's almost strange to say favorite weeks is Holy Week. It's a lot of church. Um I find myself rushing from work to get here for you know Thursday, month um, Monday, Thursday service, but it's very impactful, right? And it starts with with with Palm Sunday. Um, and it really centers your centers your mind um and it really springboards you, kind of resets your annual clock, uh, your your annual spiritual clock. And it's it's very nice the things that we do. So it is appropriate that we would have the imagery of Holy Week and that journey, which there are the next few windows, I'm sure, are gonna tell the rest of the story.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Yeah, and I mean I don't know that it was necessarily intentionally done this way, but a lot of people have over the years come into worship through that Beaver Street entrance, and so they would have come in right next to that window of Jesus entering into Jerusalem and that same kind of entrance picture imagery kind of thing. I don't know if that's intentional, but it's a neat thing to think about.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Well, it might have been because if I under like that would have been, as I point to the front, the the traditional front of the church, that was the primary entrance when the when the when the worship space was was built. What we've added on, which has now become the primary entrance, I feel is um that that we we've we've somewhat lost that flow, right, of of of worship, not worship, but that flow of traffic. But I can I can see where that would have been the entry point.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yeah, it's just I I like to think sometimes when we have these images and things like that, um, sometimes there is intentionality behind how images are placed or what they mean and things like that. Sometimes they happen to be in a place, and then we decide to say, this is a neat way to understand how this happened to have happened. Um and I don't know which way the window goes, but either way, I think it's a neat, a neat way to think about things. Yeah. So then, like we said, we kind of enter into this little mini holy week series. The next window up is Jesus in Gethsemane. Um, that's the scene where Jesus is praying in the garden, and we hear the words of Jesus praying to God the Father, saying, Um, Lord, if it be your will, take this cup from me, let this cup pass from me. Um, basically saying he doesn't want to die. And we have that scene of the of Jesus praying in our in our next window.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Hard to put a hard to put a service to the Lord, right? It I think we um it's hard to lose that that that that vision or that connection. Jesus obviously he makes a request, he lets God the Father know that he's scared, and if this is a cup that can be passed, then he's asking, but he says, Your will, not mine. Um and and I think we do a pretty good job of reflecting dimly that that service motto, but we do our best.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Because that is a mo that is a model that we pick up on this idea of not my will, but your will be done. And it's hard to say that prayer in a lot of spaces, but ultimately when we talk about the Lord's Prayer, it's in the same kind of pattern of not my will, but God's will be done. Yes. So our next window is the scene of the crucifixion. And in our window, all these windows really are just one, maybe two people. They're pretty simple. So in our crucifixion scene window, it is just Jesus hanging on the cross, and you see him with the sign above his head that calls him king of the Jews, and it doesn't say all those words, it's it's more pictorial than that. But we get into that scene, and that's an important scene to have within the space, even though we don't always like to think about Jesus on the cross.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Yes. Yes. Not much to say about that one. I just, yep, kind of the kind of the focal point, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Yeah. I mean, it's because as Lutherans, we typically, when we have the cross, we don't show the whole crucifix. Um there are many. Many Lutheran churches that do show the whole crucifix, which is when you have Jesus hanging on the cross, in either the cross in the worship space or on necklaces or whatever. There's lots of reasons why people choose one or the other. But I think by having that in this space, it helps us remember the reality of Jesus' death, the brutality of Jesus' death, and it helps us to not shy away from that being kind of front and center in our faith.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

But I think that's not the end of the story, correct?

SPEAKER_00 22:35

That's the reason why a lot of churches choose not to have the crucifix. But like I said, there's got there's there's both ways, and I think there's value in having both scenes of imagery.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

So the next window must be Gee, where does that story go next? Exactly. The story goes on to his uh resurrection, and it's kind of an interesting picture for resurrection. Um, because we've got Jesus, and it looks like he's kind of stepping out of a grave. Um, it doesn't exactly have the tomb pictures. This is where stained glass windows aren't meant to be necessarily like historically accurate pictures, they're not meant to be detailed pictures, they're meant to convey a sense. And that picture with um the colors and the banners and that kind of stuff, it does help convey the sense of joyous resurrection. And you see Jesus actually lifting his hand up in the sign of blessing, um kind of blessing the people as he comes to life.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Yeah, in uh very vibrant colors, as we will see the pictures later, um, purple robing or you know, blue robing, sign of royalty.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Yeah. Yes, yeah, because the blue um is often considered a sign of hope and color of hope. And so the the resurrection gives us that sign of hope. And then uh last but certainly, most certainly not least, our final kind of window of the stories of Jesus is what is considered the uh Great Commission, which is at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus looks at his disciples post-resurrection and says, Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, um, and making disciples of all people. And we have the picture of Jesus kind of pointing the way, kind of showing them, inviting them, encouraging them, and then a boat actually that has northeast, southwest, kind of this imagery that helps us remember that it's not just um ministries, not just for the people within this room, but to go out into the community and to be the good news of God in the world.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

So basically Jesus is saying your turn.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Yeah, okay. Tank you're it. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

We've we do that, yeah, I think, to to to the best of our ability. We try our best to reach out to the community. We've trialed a couple different um outreach type activities, um, and I think that is important for for us because we in this space, even because we are so tight-knit, we have to continue to remember that the good news does not just begin and end with us, as you do with the children every Sunday. Remember that Jesus loves you, them as you point to the back of the room, meaning the rest of us in the congregation, and then you display your arms widely and say, and those folks as well, meaning everybody else in the world. Um and we have to remind ourselves to take that commitment seriously. Our turn.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Yeah. So that's kind of the stories that surround us in our worship space. Um, and I as we were talking, it became very clear that each of these stories helps connect us as a congregation not only to the story of Jesus, but also to the way that we do ministry here and now, the way that we partner in ministry with God in the world, um, and help us kind of think about what it is to live as a congregation in this community. Fair? Fair. Okay. Because it's interesting the pictures that don't show up sometimes. Um, like there is no picture for the ascension. Right. But that being said, the ascension is um not as much about how the congregation is living into the ministry of Jesus in the world. The ascension is about Jesus' uh kingliness, Jesus' reign, Jesus being uh one with the Father, the Creator, and it has less of an immediate groundedness to its story. Um I don't know if that's why it's not included or if they just ran out of walls. Um probably something along those lines. But all of these stories help ground us, ground our ministry as a congregation in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

So I think as you and I have been talking, again, none of this has been scripted, prepped, none of it, but I do that's a great that is a great point. The ascension of Jesus Christ is as you said, I mean you said it eloquently, it's more about Jesus, not us. There's not much we can do about that other than talk about it and and read about it and you know be hopeful um uh of Jesus' eventual second coming. But each one of these stories, upon reflection over the last 20 minutes, does tell a story. And and I wasn't here in 1985, but there's a uh that that may be a truth that does ring for our congregation. Maybe these uh these specific stories and images were purposefully chosen for these specific reasons, and if not, it does make sense for us to um bring them into our uh into our current generation, uh, generational thinking because of the things that we currently do do do do as congregation.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

Yeah. And then so those are the ones that are like right at the congregational level, those are the ones that are kind of uh almost in the midst of the congregation. Then we have these two big windows that are gosh, four feet across, something like that? More? I don't know. They're they're really big. Uh but they are at the very back of the congregation and at the very front of the congregation. Um, we're gonna start with the one in the back just because it's a symbol we've talked about before. And it shows the Luther seal in a larger blue window. And I think, because I look at that when I'm presiding, I look at that when I'm preaching, that's something that I see a lot, and it helps me remember the truth Lutheran tradition in which all of this worship is grounded. And that's also the window that faces out to Beaver Street. And it's backlit now, so that way when people drive by during the dark, um, they can see that, and they can see that that is something that identifies us as a congregation, is our Lutheran identity with the Black Cross, with the red heart, with the white rose, the blue field, the gold ring. Um, if you look at our first episode, What Are Lutherans, we get into what those symbols mean.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

It's also the window that is inspiring on those Sunday mornings where the sun spills through. Oh, is it? Yes, that's the one I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Yes. It's a beautiful window.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

But then I think the window that we are perhaps most known for, and the window that most people in the congregation identify with, is what we call the Christ window. Um, and actually, you could maybe call this like an ascension window, because in our documentation, this window is labeled as Christ the King, um, which is tied to Ascension. But this one, we've got Jesus uh presumably in maybe midst of ascension or something like that, arms wide open, um, and then the come unto me words underneath it. And this window I know has been a big inspiration for the way that this congregation views itself and views the way that we relate to the world at large.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Yes. We all have, I'm sure, troves of personal stories that can relate to that particular window. And it's the one that the congregation, since it's the one that we look at on Sunday, um, is I I don't want I don't want to say most impactful for the entire congregation, but it is it is the one that is front and center for us, that I am sure every single member that has come before us currently and that will come after us um will have stories to tell about some experience they have looking at or being inspired by that window and the words that are said underneath of it. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Yeah, and that come unto me comes out of the scripture again in Matthew. There's a lot of Matthew in here. Uh comes from the scripture in Matthew, where Jesus says, Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, um, and basically inviting us to give our burdens to Jesus and taking on his yoke, which is easy and light, um, and that whole beautiful, beautiful set of verses where it basically just says, I get it. Sometimes you're tired, you're weary. Come to me. And that open invitation and that open armed stance absolutely continues that idea of just open invitation for all to come, all to find rest and renewal here, all to find life here at the feet of Jesus, quite literally. Amen. And then as I look at some of the other details in that picture, um, once again we've got the halo with the cross in it, and then there's kind of an extended halo around it with these radiating beams coming out from that halo. And I that's where I think maybe this might be something of an ascension picture, because there is that sense of just radiating light, radiating presence coming out of uh the heart of Jesus there. But a really small detail, I'm not sure people necessarily notice a lot, is Jesus' feet is still in the grass. Yeah. And so there's that sense of still very present, still very with us, um having not abandoned or orphaned us, which I think is actually John to bring in a different gospel for once. And I think that's an interesting detail to have added in, and a very important detail, because like I said, it reminds us that Jesus hasn't left the building, Jesus hasn't left us, Jesus is still very much present and grounded in life with us.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Yes. We feel that. I I feel that. I think we all do. Um and and I think as you were saying it, I was noticing it. And but you're right. I think that might be one of the first times, probably not the first, but it is an important detail that I often overlook myself because I look more at the radiant beams seemingly emanating from his presence. Um, but yeah, the ever-present reminder that Jesus is still, at least in this particular imagery, it may be the ascension, but it's the very beginning. So it hasn't, it's not up in the clouds, it's just starting.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Right. So, I mean, it's clear that these stained glass windows, they're more than just a piece of architecture, they're a piece of art. And even more than a piece of art. They are inspiration and reminders of who we are gathered, whose name we are gathered in. Uh, we're neat, we're gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. We're gathered as a community of faith that is surrounded by these stories and that is formed by these stories. And having these visual reminders, even if we don't always sit and deeply connect with them or deeply reflect on what they mean to us on that day, by having these pictures surround us, they become just part of our visual vocabulary of what it is to be St. John Church in Mars, St. John Lutheran Church in Mars.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Yes, agreed.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Thank you for that. Yeah, thank hey, thank you. You're the one that helps me connect all the windows to some meaning within congregational life and draw all those lines together. Because I think that adds a lot to the richness of these windows and why why they are such an important part of not only the physical space, but the worship that happens in this space. Yeah, yes. So as we continue to work our way into explaining everything that there is that makes worship at St. John Lutheran Church what it is, we will continue to look at uh how the space and how the stuff in the space informs our worship and helps us reflect on the way that God is moving in and through us and the ways that we are connecting with worship. So you've might you might have noticed for the past few episodes, we've been sitting here in front of what's called the altar with the paramets there. Um we'll talk about paramets next week. In addition to that, we're gonna talk about everything else that you see here. We've got candles, we've got brass things that are empty right now. Uh, we've got uh the hymn board, we've got we've got lots of things in this area that we call the chancel. And the chancel is this front space where I lead the vast majority of worship from. So I invite you to join us next week as we explore the elements of the chancel space as well as these pyramids and the colors and what they all mean and why they are important to the worship at St. John Lutheran Church. So until next time, God bless.