Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

Click any image to enlarge.

MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. John's Episcopal Church

Studio Name: Willet Hauser Architectural Glass

City: Royal Oak

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Date of Window: 1943

Subject/Title of Window: Paying Taxes to Caesar/Jesus and the Accused Woman/Jesus and the Woman at the Well

Brief Description of Subject: This window was designed for this parish's Gothic styled Church which opened in 1926. Subsequently the congregation needed a larger church and replaced it with a modern styled church which opened in 1957, moving the stained glass to the new Church.

This is the eighth in a series of ten windows, consisting of three scenes each, covering the life of Christ, and were placed in chronological order in the narthex. All of the borders on the scenes feature geometrical patterns alternating with small scenes that is some cases relate to the larger scene they border.

Top Scene: Paying Taxes to Caesar. Story found in Matthew 22:15 -22. In order to trap Jesus, Pharisees asked him if they should pay taxes to Caesar. The scene pictures Jesus' reply, Verse 19, " 'Show me the coin used for paying the tax.' They brought him a denarius," NIV. The story will continue on with Christ asking "Whose picture and inscription appears on the coin?" When they answered, "Caesar," Jesus replied, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's," Verse 21 NIV.

Middle Scene: Jesus and the Accused Woman. Story found in John 8:1 -11. In order to trap Jesus, Pharisees brought him a woman who had committed adultery. They made her stand there while they told Jesus that the Law of Moses says to stone the woman, and asked him what they should do? Jesus stooped down and said, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her," Verse 7 NIV. With that, they sheepishly left.

Bottom Scene: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. Story found in John 4:1 - 42. Jesus was traveling through Samaria and sat down by Jacob's well. When a Samaritan woman approached to draw water, Jesus engaged her in a conversation. By the end of the conversation, she came to believe he was the the Messiah and went back to her village and convinced the villagers that Jesus must be the Messiah as he "told her everything I ever did," Verse 39 NIV.

According to Church records, this window was given in memory of Donald Henry Curry Jr. by his parents Mr. and Mrs. Donald. H. Curry and dedicated June 20, 1943.

Condition of Window: Good

Height: 78"

Width: 16.25"

Type of Glass and Technique: Lead Came

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.

If you have any questions, additions or corrections, or think you can provide better images and are willing to share them, please contact donald20@msu.edu