"In A Glass Clearly!"

 I wonder what the windows were like in the synagogue where Jesus stood up to read from the prophet Isaiah in his home town of Nazareth. I wondered in 2011 just where this window restoration project in the church would lead us. Isaiah speaks of rejoicing in the Lord clothed with the garments of salvation. Now using Paul's words from Corinthians he tells us "we see in a mirror, dimly," our vision limited by our earthbound existence.

As the window restoration comes to an end in St. Andrew's, two contrasting photographs of the windows boarded up in the winter snows of 2011 contrasted with smiling faces, the Rector and Iona ArtGlass below the Lady Chapel window, reflecting as in a mirror clearly in 2015. Through all the winds and rain, snow and ice, scaffolding here, scaffolding there, that has been endured by so many and for so long is that vision of a bright new dawn in the church's life. The rays of sunshine reflected clearly, illuminating the interior, wrapped up in the warmth of worship.

New hand blown panes of glass are mixed in a random fashion with the old that could be preserved, and is now difficult to tell which is which. Yet the type of glass is unique to this church. Glass formed in a mould till it becomes thin and rippled, of uneven thickness, with or without bubbles and other accidental flaws and irregularities. This lends to a subtle variation in the intensity of light as it streams across the church interior. Not least the unique experience of being close up to the stained glass windows, awestruck by their quality and beauty. The photographs I took now displayed in church for all to see.

Perhaps this says something of our human life with all its flaws and irregularities, yet somehow when put together, pane upon pane, window upon window, it allows the spiritual radiance of Christ to enrich human life, not least for regular worshippers and visitors alike.

Much has been achieved, the windows completed, yet much has still to be done. It is the intention in the next couple of months to clean the tapestry, renew the curtains, renew the nave carpet, sand and polish flooring, professionally high clean the church, re-install the William Morris carpet and much more.

We have much to be grateful for, not least to God through the work of human hands. As God clothes us with the garments of salvation our hope is that includes dusters at the ends of hands as well, as we seek to remove the dust and spring clean at ground level.

Jesus astounded those who heard him in the synagogue that day, so may we be astounded by what has been achieved as the journey of faith goes on dusting off that which clings to us, refreshing us, as we now see in a glass more clearly.

May the love of God continue to shine in all our lives. Please pray for God's work and witness here in this place, our ongoing restoration in faith in a church fit for worship in years to come.

                                                                                                                        John Pattinson

 

Photographs of the stained glass windows displayed in church can be purchased at a cost of £25 each. Proceeds to church funds.