Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

Click any image to enlarge.

MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: St. Paul's Presbyterian Church

Studio Name: Willet Hauser Architectural Glass

City: Livonia

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Date of Window: 1965

Subject/Title of Window: Teachings and Miracles

Brief Description of Subject: Each of the four east (geographical) nave windows are made up of two panels featuring scenes taken from the life of Christ. They are roughly in chronological order starting with the one nearest the Chancel.

The window's scenes in the left panel portrays Jesus in his capacity as a teacher, while the right panel portrays Jesus as a worker of miracles. Designed by Eric Sundean, the maker's signature appears at the bottom of both panels.

Left Panel:
Upper Scene: Parable of the Good Shepherd is found in Luke 10:25 - 37. To test Jesus, a lawyer asked him "The Torah says 'Love thy neighbor as thyself' (Leviticus 19:8), tell me, 'Who is my neighbor?'" Jesus answered him with a parable involving a priest, a Levite (member of the tribe that assisted in the Temple), and a Samaritan (member of a rival sect of Judaism). A man was beaten and only the Samaritan came to his aid putting him on his donkey and taking him to an inn, paying his stay until he recovered. Then Jesus question the man "Who was the neighbor of the beaten man." The man responded "The Samaritan." Jesus told him "Go and do likewise." This window shows the priest and Levite ignoring the beaten man while the Samaritan is putting him on his donkey.

Middle Scene: Sermon on the Mount is a long discourse found in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 5, 6 and 7. The most memorable highlights are the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer. Material for this scene comes from Matthew 5:1 - 2 --- "Now when he [Jesus] saw the crowds, he went up the mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began teaching," (NIV). In the Jewish culture at that time, a Rabbi taught from a seated position. So when Jesus sat down, the disciples knew he was about to teach and came closer to better hear him. In this scene, both disciples and members of the crowd are pictured near the seated Jesus.

Lower Scene: The Parable of the Sower is found in Mark 4:1 - 20. In parable form, Jesus tells his disciples, like people who hear the Word of God but don't listen, a farmer sows seeds, but not all will bear fruit.The window pictures a farmer sowing seeds. Seeds that fell by the wayside are eaten by birds, seeds that fell on rocky soil will develop shallow roots and wither in the bright sunlight, seeds that fell among the thorns will sprout but be choked by the thorns and die, seeds that fell on the fertile soil, will sprout and bear fruit.

Right Panel:
Upper Scene: Healing a man born blind is found in John 9:1 - 12. Jesus saw a man born blind and his disciples wondered who had sinned, the man or his parents? Jesus answered"neither, it was so that the work of God may be seen in his life." This window's scene is based on Verse 6 --- Then Jesus "spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes." When the man washed his eyes, miraculously, he could see. The right hand of God is seen symbolizing this is the "work of God."

Middle Scene: Feeding the 5,000 is found in John 6:1 -15. Jesus went up on a mountainside with his disciples and a large crowd followed them. Jesus asked his disciples, "How are we going to feed all these people?" Andrew, one of his disciples said, "There is a boy here that has two small fish and five barley loaves, but those won't feed the crowd." Jesus told his his disciples, "Have the people sit down." By a miracle, this small bit of fish and barley loaves was able to feed the crowd with twelve bushels of scraps left over. The window shows the crowd sitting down and Jesus blessing the fish and bread the boy had brought.

Lower Scene: Jarius' daughter raised from the dead is found in Mark 5:21 - 43. A large crowd had gathered around Jesus when one of the rulers of the synagogue named Jarius, fell at Jesus' feet pleading "My daughter is dying, please come." As they approached the house, they were told the daughter had died. This window's scene is based on Verses 40 - 42 --- Then, "he took the child's father and mother ... and went where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her ... 'Little girl, I say to you get up!' Immediately the girl stood up." (NIV)

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.

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