Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: First United Methodist Church of Plymouth

Studio Name: Willet Hauser Architectural Glass

City: Plymouth

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Date of Window: 1972

Subject/Title of Window: God the Holy Spirit - Sanctification

Brief Description of Subject: The Church complex has only three stained glass windows. Each of the three illuminates passages from the Bible about one of the members of the Trinity. The subject of this window is the Holy Spirit's role in Sanctification.
 
From the Ministry of United Methodist Communications:
 
"Sanctifying grace is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit that changes us so that our lives are increasingly conformed to the mind of Christ. John Wesley called this lifelong process Sanctification or being 'perfected in love'."
 
In the center of this window the artist placed a crown with a cross passing through it which symbolizes the crown that awaits us in heaven after our trials (cross we bear) on earth. This comes from James 1:12, "Blessed is any one who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." This crown and cross symbol will be used for both the scene on the left as well as the one on the right.
 
The scene on the left pictures three people in prayer walking with the Holy Spirit (symbolized by a dove with a cruciform halo), who is leading them to the crown of life that awaits them in the kingdom of God.
 
This scene is based on St. Paul's letter to the Galatians found in Galatians 5:16 - 26. The Galatians are having trouble resisting the temptations of the flesh and St. Paul implores them, "Walk by the Spirit ... be led by the Spirit," and you will be led away from temptation, You will receive "the fruit of the Spirit [which] is LOVE, joy, PEACE, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance," and you "shall ... inherit the kingdom of God."
 
From the ResourceUMC
 
"John Wesley preached that works of mercy are a means of grace which lead to holiness and aid in sanctification."
 
The scene on the right comes from the Gospel of Matthew 25:31 - 46. The disciples were asking questions about Christ's second coming. This parable is Christ's explanation of what will take place. It goes by the name Parable of the Sheep and Goats also known as the Last Judgement. Works of mercy play an integral part.
 
Symbols used in this scene are the globus cruciger (symbol for a king) and the cross and crown. Inside the rings are pictures of the works of mercy --- shown in quotes using brackets.
 
"When the Son of Man [globus cruciger] comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep on the right and the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on the right hand, 'Come, you are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world' [cross and crown], for I was hungry and you gave me food [bread], I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink [a pitcher], I was a stranger and you welcomed me [open door with a cross], I was naked and you gave me clothing [shirt], I was sick and you took care of me [sick bed], I was in prison and you visited me [chains]. Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry, and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that I saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did it to me."
 
A list of these six works of mercy are called the Corporal Works of Mercy. Sometime in the Byzantine Period, Bury the Dead was added to this list bringing the total to seven. It most likely came from the Old Testament Apocryphal book Tobit 1:16 -17, "I [Tobit] I gave my alms to my brethren, and gave my bread to the hungry, and my clothes to the naked, and if I saw any of my nation dead, or cast about the walls of Nineveh, I buried him." With a little imagination, the unidentified object in the ring with a chain could be a grave.

Inscriptions: LOVE
PEACE


Height: 16"

Width: 72"

The MSGC is a constantly evolving database. Not all the data that has been collected by volunteers has been sorted and entered. Not every building has been completely documented.

All images in the Index are either born-digital photographs of windows or buildings or are scans of slides, prints, or other published sources. These images have been provided by volunteers and the quality of the material varies widely.

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