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Featured Window

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

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Window

Building Name: St. George Episcopal Church

Studio Name: Hopfensperger Stained Glass and Sculpture Studios

City: Milford

Window Shape: 3 (arched)

Subject/Title of Window: Creation

Brief Description of Subject: It is not necessary to know every detail about the stained glass window at St. George's Church to enjoy it's beauty. One can appreciate the window on the basis of its form or color alone. The total concept of the window is creation, with the bright yellows, oranges and reds symbolizing God's creation and re-creation. The random arcs and straight lines show how hard it is to predict God's actions. The shades of blue of the background colors are the colors of the Virgin Mary, the flood waters and baptism. The dove is the central figure in the window and has several meanings for Christians. In the story of the flood, the dove returns to the ark with the olive branch, a picture which has become an almost universal symbol of peace. The dove is also the symbol of baptism and sometimes the symbol of the Church. The same colors surround the head of the dove as have been used in the top and bottom of the window signifying that baptism is a creative event. The five red slashes can be construed as the five wounds of Christ on the cross, or the symbols of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The chalice and the round wafer of bread stand for the Eucharist, while the orange rays radiating around the chalice and the bread indicate that communion is not only a private devotion, it is meant to be shared, to radiate throughout the world. The purple scallop shell is the symbol of baptism.

Creation
Creation

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