Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

Click any image to enlarge.

MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: First United Methodist Church

City: Alpena

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Date of Window: 1975

Subject/Title of Window: Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

Brief Description of Subject: A staff, used in biblical times, by leaders who had been given power and strength over others.

Beneath it, a set of scales which represent the weighing of another person’s guilt or innocence or personal worth.
During Jesus’s years, punishment of the guilty was extremely harsh and callous.

Two Greek letters, Chi and RHO when combined symbolize the word Christ, and used here to remind us of the Quality of Mercy which Christ showed:
He detested the act of sin. He cared about the person who sinned. He learned the facts before making a judgement. He forgave the person, and with kindness helped him to do better.
 
Blessed are we, when we are merciful. For they Shall Attain Mercy
When we think of mercy, we may think of the Red Cross, hospitals, homes for the weak, the aged, the suffering but the mercy of which Jesus speaks goes even deeper.

Mercy is not only for those who are like us- but also for those who may have done some harm to us personally or who may have done some damage to society.

The Hebrew words for mercy is Chesedh- it suggests physical mercy, but much more as well.According to T.H. Robinson, “It means a sympathetic appreciation of other, the power not deliberately with them0 to see life from their point of view”
 
To have such mercy, one must be able to clearly separate the wrong act from the person. The act may well need punishment, but there is always the need for mercy to the person. You may be able to help him in his trouble- to stand by him in sympathy—to give him courage and strength.

The goal is to get the sinner back to his place in our friendship; back to his place in society, back to his place in the love of God. Mercy is more concerned with redemption than destruction.

The supreme demonstration of the mercy of Christ was so nobly shown when he took out sins upon Himself and died upon the cross so that we might be saved. He will teach us how to love one another as he has first loved us. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Condition of Window: Good

Height: 105"

Width: 24"

Type of Glass and Technique: Slab or Faceted Glass (Dalle de Verre)

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