Through Stained Glass Darkly

Jobstainedglass

Last Sunday I preached at Stromness Baptist Church and used the 4 stained glass windows at the front of the church and their corresponding Bible verses as a guide to the message. In fact, it was the message and it was the dedication service of baby Stella Shiner.

Stainedglass1

The colours of the stained glass were selected a century ago by Stromness artist Stanley Cursiter who would later direct the National Galleries for Scotland. The colours represented the water (blue) heather (purple/red) grass (green) of the Orkney Islands. The verses speak of the cycle of life and death (Job 7:10, Ecclesiastes 12:7) and the challenge to be people of mercy (Mat 5:7) and purity (Mat 5:8)in the light of the shortness of life and the judgement to come. I felt Psalm 103 allowed all four windows to find convergence and a united message.

Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

3 Comments

  • chad says:

    That was a great use of something that is in front of that congregation every week. I go to a pretty old church and their isn’t that much known about the building and the people that have been sitting in those pews for 150+ years.
    Did you by chance get a recording of this, I would love to hear it.

  • andrew says:

    no recording. sorry.

  • Tom says:

    Nice reference to A Scanner Darkly, unless I’m just reading too much into it. Have you seen the film? Excellent visual effects. Hope you’re well.

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