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Window of the Month
Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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Window

Building Name: All Saints Episcopal Church

Studio Name: Connick (Charles J.), Ltd.

City: Pontiac

Window Shape: 6 (gothic arched, more than 2 vertical sections)

Date of Window: 1951

Subject/Title of Window: Isaiah

Brief Description of Subject: Isaiah of Jerusalem was a counselor of kings from 740-701 BC. During this time, there were two major crises - the war with Syria in 734 and the Assyrian threats from 734-701. Isaiah saw those events as expressions of God's rule over the nations. The cause of the wars, he said, is social injustice. God is working out punishment for his people in the international arena. Some of the best known passages in this book are those dealing with the longing for a Messiah and Isaiah's description of his own call. The latter part of the book is a collection of great hymns and poems about the hope of restoration at the end of the Exile. Included in the hymns are four about the Servant of God, who suffers for the sake of Israel, and upon whom Jesus modeled his ministry. In the central lancet he holds a scroll with the words, "The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose" (35:1), expressing his confidence in the ultimate fulfillment of God's purposes.

At the bottom of the central lancet is his traditional symbol, the saw. It refers to the legend that he met his death by being sawn in two and also to his rhetorical question in 10:15, "Shall the axe vaunt itself over the one who wields it, or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it?" The "saw" refers to Assyria, who felt that because of its military might, it was omnipotent. But to Isaiah, Assyria was merely an instrument in the hand of God which He was using to accomplish His divine purpose in punishing Israel. He says this of Cyrus, the Assyrian king in 45:4-6:
"For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Isreal my chosen, I call you by your name; I surname you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me, so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other."

This is the high point of Hebrew montheism in seeing the God of Israel as the God of the entire universe, rather than merely as a tribal god.

The medallion in the right lancet symbolizes Isaiah's prophecy of the coming of the Christ Child (11:1-2) and the medallion in the left refers to Isaiah's call in Chapter 6:
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne...Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings. And I said, 'Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips'...Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: 'Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed'...Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here I am, send me!'"

Inscriptions: The desert shall rejoice and blossom at the rose


Height: ~82"

Width: ~78"

Type of Glass and Technique: Lead Came

Isaiah
Isaiah

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