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Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. Paul's Presbyterian Church

City: Livonia

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Date of Window: 1965

Subject/Title of Window: Seal of the World Council/Christ in Welcoming Pose/The Stoning of Stephen

Brief Description of Subject: Originally the west nave wall was designed for a two panel windows, however after about 40 years, the entire wall was replaced with clear glass to let more light into the Church. No longer constrained by the original architecture, the two panels of each of the original windows were separated and reinstalled singularly, evenly spaced across the west wall. In the process of reassembling this window, the wrong bottom section was put in. Instead of the scene "Seal of the United Presbyterian Church in the USA," it now has "The Stoning of Stephan." The top three sections of this window were designed by Eric Sundean, while the bottom section was designed by Marguerite Gaudin.

Upper Scene: The Seal of the World Council of Churches. "OIKOUMENE" is a transliterated Greek word that means "all of the inhabitants of earth." It had been adopted by Christians to refer to all of the believers in Christ. The boat with a cross is one of the earliest symbols for the Christian Church.

Middle Scene: Consists of three tiers, was unable to find the connection between them. Top tier is Jesus in a welcoming pose. The second tier pictures a doctor welcoming a child, possibly a social worker in circa 1900 clothes welcoming an adolescent, and a minister or missionary welcoming a young girl. The bottom tier pictures a modern city with the flag of the Resurrection.

Lower Scene: The Stoning of Stephan is found in Acts 7:54 - 60. The disciple Stephan was brought before the Sanhedrin for blasphemy against God. In his defense he gave a long dissertation on Abraham and Moses finishing with how the people of Israel continually persecuted their prophets. This just enraged those sitting in the Sanhedrin, but Stephan looked up to heaven and said (Verse 56) "Look, I see heaven open and the Son of God standing at the right hand," (NIV). At this point they dragged him outside and began stoning him. This scene pictures Verses 58 - 60. "Meanwhile the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul [Paul]. While they were stoning him, Stephan prayed, 'Lord Jesus receive my spirit.' Then he fell on his knees and cried out, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.' When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was there, giving approval to his death." (NIV)

Inscriptions: Oikoumene


Condition of Window: Good

Height: 88"

Width: 24"

Type of Glass and Technique: Opalescent Glass, 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.

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