I WILL PROBABLY ALWAYS VOTE AGAINST putting a stained glass window in a church.
I love stained glass windows. I’ve spent hours enjoying them in churches throughout the Middle East and Europe. We have gorgeous ones here in the States, too.
My own church will soon have a four-story-high, stained glass window that people will be able to see from two miles away, I’m told. When you walk into our new sanctuary that’s being build, the stained glass window will dominate the sacred space. It fills the wall at the front of the room with pictures of Bible scenes, including a 45-foot resurrected Jesus.
The art looks top-notch.
The history is solid. Stained glass windows emerged as a way of telling the story of Jesus to people who couldn’t read the Bible. That’s one of the arguments for continuing the tradition: use pictures to tell the story of Jesus to people who won’t read the Bible.
Years ago I worshiped in a church that started as a basement. We would build in stages, as we were able to keep the debt manageable. The sacred space was a sanctuary on Sunday and a gymnasium and preschool the rest of the week. Our pastor dubbed it the Sanctinasium (SANK tuh NAY zee um).
We were located in the elite part of town. Within walking distance there lived lawyers, Hallmark execs, and football stars. Society’s rich worshiped with middle class souls such as me and my family. Strangely enough, given our location, we also had homeless folks among us, bussed in from downtown. They seemed to feel comfortable in a sacred space with basketball hoops at both ends of the room.
I remember the evening we had our church meeting to vote on building the next stage. Most members wanted a traditional sanctuary. They were tired of meeting in a gym. But I loved being there. I feared that once we built a traditional worship space, our church wouldn’t feel familiar, welcoming, and comfortable to outsiders. Instead, it would feel like a place they didn’t belong.
More than 90% of the voters disagreed with me. We built a beautiful sanctuary.
I never saw the homeless folks there again.
Why would they feel any more comfortable wearing tattered clothes to a minted sanctuary than I would feel wearing pajamas to an opera?
Here’s what I wonder.
Are stained glass windows today more for insiders than for outsiders? Best viewed as Christians, from inside the church looking out – through rose-colored glass onto a canvas of stories that comfort us?
Least helpful as a nonChristian, from outside the church looking in – through beautiful stained glass art of people we know nothing about?
Aside from that question, there’s the money question.
Let’s say Jesus came down for a visit. And he brought three million bucks with him.
Standing before him is a crowd of souls ready to pitch him their ideas for how best to use that money.
- There’s a company that would need it all to build one of the largest stained glass windows in the country – something folks will be talking about for decades, or until a kid shows up with a slingshot.
- There’s an African man with parasites in his stomach because his village doesn’t have a source of clean water. He would like a couple thousand dollars to rent equipment to dig a hole.
- There’s a downtown minister who says the city needs a place not only to house the homeless but to treat the mental illness that typically drives those troubled souls away. He would like seed money for a Fresh Start clinic and rehab mission.
- There’s a principal who says most of her students come to school hungry and without the clothes they need to keep them warm in the winter. She would like to feed and clothe them.
If Jesus controlled that wad of three million dollars, where would he let it go?
I do not presume to know.
All I know is what I hope I would do with that money.
There’s a place for art in Christianity. I showcase art in most of my books.
But perhaps you can understand why someone who finds God at work in a Sanctinasium accessorized with basketball hoops would pause and wonder about stained glass windows.
You can understand that, right?
Thanks Steve – God Bless You!
Thanks, Wayne. I’m just thinking out loud in this article, as someone who’s not used to worshiping in a church with stained glass windows.
Steve, I appreciate your thoughts on this. I believe what the church is doing is allright for several reasons:
1st: The money will not come from the church’s budgets, but from donations.
2nd: I have seen homeless and mentally ill people who have sat and pondered over the existing stain glass windows in inner city churches that have shared part of the story of the church or the Message of Jesus.
3rd: I believe church will still be giving as much or more in time and money to meet the needs of inner city schools, the homeless, the mentally ill, and the other nations that need assistance with rebuilding and building safe drinking water,
Lastly: I can only pray that the future congregation will continue Jesus’ Mission for inclusion with all people and ministrying with the homeless, mentally ill, the addicted, people recovering from human trafficking, etc. especially with the people who are differently abled as the picture of Matthew Joiner will be on the stained glass window.
There are homeless and mentally ill people as well as people who are dfferently abled in the church’s current location and all their campuses and the messages preached and taught need to be lived out to turst God for His opening up hearts, minds, time, and finances for full and active inclusion. How would you respond if on the property the church built a transitional housing for the homeless or mentally ill or built a L’Arche style community living for people who are differently abled where the core members (people who are differenlty abled) and the resident assistance (the paid emplyees) who live with the people who are differenlty abled? Great thoughts which need to be talked with people who one disagrees with. The one church that you were talking about that built their sanctuary made the biggest mistake in the mid-1970s by not planting a church where it is now, but remaining in the old community to minister with the people in the neighborhood wheter they were white, black, or other cultures–this last sentence is my personal thoughts. Actually, there has to be a transformation in our churches to respect more variation in worship styles that other cultures give to God’s church in worship.
You have certainly provided some food for thought, Steve. I’ve been reading a book called Building a Contagious Church by Mark Mittelburg who serves on the staff of Willow Creek Community Church. In the book he states, “When the mission of the church gets reduced to keeping the sheep in the pen happy, the mission is falling woefully short.” I’m sure you would agree!
You’re right, Gary. I agree. The mission isn’t about the sheep in the pen. It’s about the lost sheep. The Great Commission is a search and rescue. It’s not a rally by the flagpole.
I question the value of the stained glass project in the church. But I don’t doubt the sincerity and commitment to the Great Commission by the church leaders. This is a church that hunts down the lost sheep in the local community and on the other side of the planet.
I’m just not sure what to make of how the stained glass window fits into the search and rescue effort. But who knows? It might turn out to be one of the church’s most effective tools of evangelism. I don’t discount that as a possibility. I just don’t think I would bet on that in Vegas.
Off subject a little, but I work in a church that was built in 1850 with amazing stained glass windows (Lutheran), but you know there isn’t a window where you can see outside & see the world. I miss seeing the sunshine & rain or whatever is going on out there.