Featured Window

Our Lady of Grace, Dearborn Heights, Michigan

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MSGC : Collections : Window

Window

Building Name: First United Methodist Church of Dearborn

Studio Name: Payne Spiers Studio

City: Dearborn

Window Shape: 2 (rectangle)

Subject/Title of Window: Lay Person's Window

Brief Description of Subject: Left Panel
This window depicts the Ford Rouge Plant, the largest industrial complex in the world by the late 1920s, with its own power, glass, cement plant and by-products plants and 16 assembly plants. The City of Dearborn's location on the River Rouge enabled ships to bring iron ore, coal, limestone and lumber directly to the Ford Plant, which also had direct access from 92 miles of railway track. The Rouge Plant complex dwarfs the freighter ship on the water in the foreground. But, even more importantly, a keystone symbol inset centrally among the various buildings is that of an open Bible on a lectern, again a reminder of the central prominence of faith in daily life. Below the Bible are symbols of various trades— a saw, factory gear, compass, tongs, awl and hammer. Its inscription reads: "A Workman: Approved Unto God," which comes from the Book of 2 Timothy ("An Approved Workman"): "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

Right Panel
The chi-rho symbols represent the first two letters in the Greek spelling of “Christ”. The crossed keys are the power to open and close church. The boat hook and shepherds staff suggested guidance and protection. The central figure of the church is that of the Webster Hill United Methodist Church of Webster Hills, Missouri. It is pastored by the bother of the member memorialized by this window. The fish is the net represents, “fisherman become fishers of men”. The open book on the eagle lectern reads, I am the way, the truth, the life fir for the kingdom “ (Luke 9:62)

Inscriptions: A Workman: Approved Unto God

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