Stained Glass Windows Installation

Beginning on Monday, we begin the installation of our six stained glass windows in the Church. We have been in communication with Dixon Studios, Staunton, Virginia. Scaffolding will be put up on the front and rear walls of the church beginning Monday and Tuesday. Then will follow the actual installation of the windows.The installation hopefully will continue through the week and into the second week. As a work of art, these windows are custom designed, fabricated, and installed. They are also, obviously, breakable! Hopefully all will be completed in good form, if all goes as planned. Until the windows are completed, you can expect to see the scaffolding and the windows in progress.

Congratulations to all of you who have supported this project for many years. Many Christmas collections, memorial gifts, and pledges to the Rooted in Faith/Forward in Hope Campaign have brought us to this important addition to our worship space. Thank you for your generosity. All of us at CTR can be proud of this wonderful expression of our faith community. These will be a gift to our present community, but also, hopefully, for generations to come.

There are six windows to be installed. They have been designed by stained glass artist Ron Dixon of the Dixon Studios. The largest of the windows will be the very highest window and the two side panels which enclose the sanctuary. The window above the Cross will draw its theme from the Cross itself. While the sanctuary processional Cross depicts a cross of suffering, the window will show a transformed and glorified cross with rich yellows, golds, blues, reds, and translucent antique style glass. In this Christological presentation, the Cross will be highlighted with a large halo with the abstracted arms of Christ. These arms are formed by representations of streams of blood and water flowing from the Cross. From the side Cross you will see the Church itself flowing from the Savior.

The two panel windows in the sanctuary will continue this Christological theme depicting the streams of the baptismal water flowing in the sacramental life of the Church. Still through the windows, you will see daily life and creation. These three windows form a representation of Christ the Redeemer as the source of life through the Eucharist, through Baptism/Confirmation. This reality then embraces the altar table as the center where we encounter the presence of Christ among us.

To either side of the Church will be two windows. On the tabernacle side is Creation from the Book of Genesis, with its themes of light and dark, water and dry land, sun and moon. In the choir window, the story of redemption is completed in the New Creation in the Book of Revelation which shows the completion of creation in Christ, the New Adam, through his Cross.

The high rear window will show the Sending of the Spirit over the Church. The Church is born through the energy, preaching, and gathering of the Church in the Spirit. Bright colors will form a geometric representation of the Spirit being poured out over the Church.

Celebrate this moment in the life of Christ the Redeemer Parish as we see our faith expressed in color, shape, and textured glass. Hopefully, life and art come together in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

CDH