Through Stained Glass

One of the parts of church that I have always been captivated by is their stained glass windows.  Have loved it so much that my wife and I have taken up the hobby of working with stained glass. Been at it maybe a year and probably not good at it yet but we try.

There are a number of interesting points of stained glass work. But I’ll tell you the two main ones.  First thing you learn is how you put it together. The new way seems to be copper foil. With this you wrap the glass with copper foil and then solder the pieces together. With the other, which is the old way, you piece the project together with real lead and then just solder the ends together. The results are similar.

This week I had opportunity to look at some stained glass in an older church in Brantford. They are so beautiful. But that was not what actually caught my attention. I’m old and don’t get out much. In fact we don’t get invited to parties anymore. I guess we put a damper on the drinking and stuff that goes on at these parties.  Even if we are invited, we are the first ones to get up and go home.

As I looked and appreciated the beauty of these windows I found myself asking, why do we put them up in the first place? Can it be that we on the inside want the world to look beautiful? Or maybe we want the world to see the beauty of God we celebrate on the inside. Then again, we could be hiding behind these windows so we don’t have to look at what is happening in society. Maybe it could be we don’t want the world to see in?

As Steve Brown put it, maybe we are on the inside, where nothing is happening, with our noses to the glass wishing we were part of the fun of the world. Here is what I really think. If there is something exciting on the inside, the world would have their noses to the outside of the glass wanting to see what’s going on inside and wanting to join us and Jesus. Which side of the glass are you on?

Something to think about.

Rob