The stain glass windows in our sanctuary have Christian meaning to help us center our thoughts.
The stain glass window behind the choir loft has the central motif of the empty cross surround by rays of colorful light indicating the primacy of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and his resurrection. The dove on the left symbolizes peace and reconciliation. In Matthew 3:16 when Jesus was baptized the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove and alighted on him. On the right is the cup. The cup is often related to fate and is rich with symbolization. “Cup of salvation” is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. It can refer to the cup of suffering and death that Jesus prayed to God in the Garden of Gethsemane to be taken from him, Matthew 26:39. The cup also symbolizes the new covenant in Jesus's blood, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.
The west facing circle medallion window is divided in to four quadrants and shines brightly at night toward ZigZag Road. The west medallion was original to the church building in the attic over the old narthex and was meant to be viewed from the outside. The renovation in the mid 1990’s that reoriented the sanctuary added the east medallion and the large window behind the central cross and made the west medallion visible from inside the sanctuary. The west medallion quadrants have modern renditions of the symbols of the four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Since the window is oriented toward the outside the names written vertically on the sides are seen backwards when seen from inside the sanctuary. Matthew is in the upper right-hand corner represented by an Angel, a human figure. The gospel of Matthew begins by listing the human generations that preceded Jesus. Mark in the upper left-hand corner is symbolized by a lion, connected to the story of John the Baptist ‘roaring like a lion’ in the wilderness that begins the book of Mark. Luke in the lower right-hand quadrant has the symbol of a winged ox with horns. An ox was an animal of sacrifice and Luke emphasizes the sacrificial life and death of Jesus. John in the lower left quadrant is symbolized by a winged eagle. The eagle was often believed by early Christian scholars to be able to look straight into the sun.
The medallion on the east wall of the Sanctuary has Biblical images. On the left are the “tongues of fire” described in Acts 2 that appeared when the holy spirit like a mighty rushing wind descended on the followers on the day of Pentecost. On the right are the ten commandments on stone tablets, and below is a pictorial representation of Isaiah 40:4, "…every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain."