This little light of mine

On my way to church this evening, I drove by a building with a stained glass window. It was less than inspiring to me because of the muted colors and lack of form (that I could appreciate). I thought, "stained glass windows should be bright and inspiring!" It got me to thinking about various stained glass windows that have either left an impression or been in the backdrop at important times in my life.

I always liked the huge stained glass window at First Pres. in Elkhart (ha, they have an awesome web address). I remember spending what seemed like hours staring at it and then still finding new images.

There are two stained glass windows at Culver's chapel. The one up front never really did anything for me, but I did like the variety of colors. I liked the one in the back, but unless you were up near the altar, you wouldn't really see it. I spent a lot of time at the chapel for one reason or another (it was on the way back to the main campus from the riding hall, so it was a good air conditioned layover point in the stifling Midwest humidity!). Anyway, it's a really neat place, and I have good memories there. Actually, some funny stories came out of that place too!

Fast forward to Chicago when Miki and I were talking about rooming together. Because of lease timing issues, it didn't pan out, but we had fun looking! The one that I just absolutely fell in love with had, you guessed it, huge stained glass windows. The apartment building was nearing one hundred years old and had originally been a synagogue (Temple Emanuel) and then a church before being renovated. The architect added on a second floor inside to make loft apartments and maintained most of the inside facade- floor-to-ceiling (in a loft!) stained glass windows included! Good thing we didn't end up getting it- I might never have left the apartment, let alone the city!

There's a stained glass studio not far from me now. Everytime I drive by it, I get this intense urge to go in and sign up for a class because I want to make something that will spread beautiful color. Without beauty, what are we here for anyway? Beauty is the essense of God and we need more of both, you know?