When we chose to construct our own stained glass windows, we did not anticipate the construction period to take as long as it did. This project took approximately eight years to complete. The first two years were spent designing the windows and the next six in actual construction. The project finally completed and the dedication ceremonies were held on October 6,1996.
The committee that constructed the windows was headed by Pat Brickley, a member of our church who was an amateur stained glass enthusiast. During actual construction the window pieces were cut, ground, and foiled by various members of the church. Pat and Karen Jury, another amateur stained glass enthusiast, were the individuals which performed the tedious task of actually putting the pieces together with solder. Many thanks are given to Karen, who is not a member of our church, for all of her hard dedicated work to this project.
The end project consisted of 10 main window panes with two narrow panes in the front of the church, one window pane in the entryway narthex, and one pane on the announcement sign in front of the church. We are very proud of these windows, and we hope that you will enjoy them.
| WEST WALL FRONT of CHAPEL | |
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| TOP PANE | DESCRIPTION |
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Advent: This pane signifies Advent (the coming of the Christ.) Purple is the ancient color of royalty signaling Advent's preparation for the coming of royalty. The pink candle stands for joy. |
| BOTTOM PANE | DESCRIPTION |
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Christmas: This pane stands for Christmas with the manger and star. The five sided star with rays symbolizes Epiphany and the star followed by the Wise Men. |
| WEST WALL CENTER of CHAPEL | |
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| TOP PANE | DESCRIPTION |
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Baptism: This pane of the second window is a shell with water dripping out of it. Water is a powerful and consistent symbol in the Bible, with a wide range of meaning: cleansing, life-giving, chaos, death-dealing, womb, and birth, rebirth, the flood, Moses striking a rock to produce water for the thirsting Israelites, parting of the Red Sea, the water of Baptism throughout the New Testament, Jesus calming the water of the Sea of Galilee, the river Jordan, and the crystal fountains and rivers mentioned in the bood of Revalation. This is the symbol of baptism, a sacrament, or holy act of the Church. The shell is sometimes used to administer the water. Baptism is one of the ways in which the love of God is expressed towards people. It is a declaration of one's faith in Christ, and a symbol of the forgiveness of the past and of joining the Body of Christ. |
| BOTTOM PANE | DESCRIPTION |
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The Trinity: This bottom pane illustrates three intersecting rings. This stands for the Trinity. The idea of the Trinity was developed over the years to express the mystery of the three ways that God is expressed in the world; first through creation, that is God the Father or Creator; second through Jesus the Christ (Chosen One), or the Son who demonstrated God's love while he was on earth; and third, the Holy Spirit - the unseen Spirit who takes up residence in individual Christians through faith, and whose function it is to guide, comfort and stand up for the Christian. |
| WEST WALL BACK of CHAPEL | |
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| TOP PANE | DESCRIPTION |
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Maundy Thursday: This top pane is the symbol for
communion. In following the theme of the Christian year, it specifically points us to Maundy
Thursday - the evening Christ ate for the last time with His disciples. This event institutes the
mystery of Christ's abiding redemptive presence in the Church's celebrations of the Lord's Supper or Holy
Communion. It also marks the beginning of the most solemn and joyful celebration of the Christian
year. We enter what Augustine referred to as The triduum during which the Lord died, was buried and
rose again. The grapes symbolize the wine used in communion, the chalice symbolizes the cup used by Christ in the Last Supper, the loaf of bread is the symbol of the bread used in the Last Supper. The bread is a primary symbol which functions as a natural representation of God's Word - the Bread of Life. As employed in the Lord's Supper, bread becomes the transforming, living sign of Christ's presence. Throughout the Christian year we encounter many references to bread in the Scriptures - manna in the desert, the cakes made by Sarah for the three visitors, the feeding of the multitudes, and the bread of the Last Supper, to name a few. Bread is thus a powerful symbol of nurture, and the relationship between bread broken, bread scattered, and bread made one, refers to the reality of the church as Christ's body. |
| BOTTOM PANE | DESCRIPTION |
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Good Friday: This bottom pane symbolizes Good Friday. The cross is perhaps the fundamental symbol in Christianity, representing the whole meaning of Christ's saving death and resurrection, life and ministry, incarnation and coming in glory. The cross is brown, representing the rough cross on which all felonious criminals were crucified. The red cloth draping the cross represents the shedding of blood, a symbol of Christ's dying for those whom he loved, and it symbolizes the shroud that covered Jesus after he was dead. |
| EAST WALL BACK of CHAPEL | |
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| TOP PANE | DESCRIPTION |
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Easter: This top pane of the fourth window
represents Easter. Again we have the cross, but here it is made of light. The lily is the flower
of the resurrection, new life, but also a symbol of the care of God, as in the Sermon on the
Mount: Consider the lilies of the field..... (Matthew 6:28). This particular cross is constructed of specially cut pieces of crystal. To truly appreciate the effect and beauty of this Cross of Light one has to be physically in the Chapel. Light passing through this Cross of Light causes many crosses of light made from sunshine to pass across the west wall of the Chapel. |
| BOTTOM PANE | DESCRIPTION |
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Pentecost: This bottom pane of the fourth window symbolizes Pentecost. The descending dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit, originating in the account of Jesus's baptism in Matthew 3:16.The flame represents the Holy Spirit coming as it was experienced by the disciples as they prayed together after Jesus had ascended to heaven. This experience happened on the Jewish holiday of Pentecost, and it was t he beginning of the church, which started with a powerful expression of God through giving people the ability to speak in languages unknown to them so that everyone who was there got a chance to hear about Christ. |
| BACK WALL of CHAPEL | ||
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| WEST WALL | DESCRIPTION | EAST WALL |
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Nevada: The two thin windows on the west and east sides of the very back wall of the chapel bring us closer to home. In thanksgiving for the place where God has put this church, these windows express different views of Nevada. The west side window is predominantly brown representing the desert and sage. The east side window with its predominant blues and greens represent the streams and trees of our high country. |  |
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| The window that you see in the sign above was the last window to be
made. The red flame in the cross is United Methodism's official symbol and can be found out front of every
United Methodist Church and on just about everything printed by the United Methodist Church and is a registered
trademark. Known informally as the cross and flame logo but formally known as the denomination's insignia, it has been in use nearly three decades. It is seen in cities, towns and rural areas at every point on the globe. The insignia is a cross linked with a dual flame. This symbol relates our church to God by way of the second and third persons of the Trinity; the Christ (cross) and the Holy Spirit (flame). Apart from Wesleyan Trinitarian theology and warmth, the flame has two other connotations. The flame suggests Pentecost when witnesses saw "tongues as of fire." And the duality of the flame was meant to represent the merger in 1968 of two denominations: The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The sign in which this stained glass pane is placed was constructed and donated to the church by one of the members of our church Jeff Nester. |