Our church has been accepted to participate in a civic celebration of art called, Calgary Artwalk. What could our church offer? We are the stewards of a church building with distinctively blue stained glass. Within the stained glass windows are a series of symbols. The symbols represent Christian stories, themes and even doctrines. The artistic value of the stained glass symbolism is very high. But more than that is the profound symbolic significance which the windows provide.
Since we were included in the city galleries of Artwalk, we decided to offer interpretive tours through the church building in order to explain the symbols and introduce many non-religious people to the world of the Christian Scriptures.
This is the unedited tour guide script which the volunteer tour guides will use. Our hope is that as people come to study the beauty, craftsmanship and symbolism of the stained glass, they will inquire further into the message of Jesus Christ and his mission to deliver human beings from the banality of immorality and the lostness of their misplaced love.
Calgary Artwalk 2019
Symbols in Stained Glass
Exhibition Guide
Welcome to Calvary Grace Church. My name is [_____]. I’m a member here at the church. We are delighted to participate in Artwalk this year. And we are glad you could come and tour our historic building and see the our exhibition.
The exhibit is called, “Symbols in Stained Glass”. Our tour should take about 20 minutes. There are washrooms available downstairs. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask at any time. I’ll do my best to answer them.
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York city, stained glass was a technique which became well developed in the Middle Ages. According to the MET:
Most of what is known about medieval stained-glass making comes from a twelfth-century German monk who called himself Theophilus. An artist and metalworker himself, Theophilus described in his text, On Diverse Arts, how he carefully studied glaziers and glass painters at work in order to provide detailed directions for creating windows of “inestimable beauty.”
Stained glass became an artistic way to show the symbolism of Christianity. For the many illiterate people in the Middle Ages, stained glass became a picture-book for teaching them the faith.
In our tour, we are going to see as many as 20 different symbols in the windows. It’s going to be like flipping through a large colouring book on the walls! You’ll notice the graphic design and beauty of these symbols.
- AGNUS DEI and the 7 Seals [Any ideas about what’s going on here?]
- This image shows a lamb with the sunshine around the head with the cross inset. This represents “The Lamb of God”
- John the Baptiser (They didn’t have “Baptists” back then) called Jesus “The Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sin of the World”. Later in the Book of Revelation, Jesus Christ was called the Lamb of God and he is the only one deemed worthy to open the sealed prophecy about the end of the world. The singers said of Jesus, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
- Crown
- This is the claim, not only that Jesus Christ is the King of the Jews, which is what Pontius Pilate labelled him when he had him crucified, but Jesus is also the eternal king who reigns in this way:
- For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. First Letter to the Greek Corinthians from Paul, the Apostle.
- [Nobody likes death. But the Christian belief is that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so he beat death and will destroy it completely]
- Candle
- This symbol represents the saying of Jesus, ““I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- The Pelican in Her Piety [ Now what do you think is going on with this one? ]
- This was an ancient symbol used by the early Christians to portray what Jesus did in sacrificing himself. People thought that the Pelican would stab itself and feed its hungry young with her own blood. In a similar way, the idea was that Jesus shed his blood to give life to his own.
- [This is one of the more puzzling ones. Unless you’re an ancient history expert or a zoologist!]
From the Narthex, we enter the Sanctuary. We will turn off the lights and you can appreciate the blue light.
- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
- [Can you name the 4 Beatles? (John, Paul, George, Ringo) or 4 Calgary Flames? (Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano, Matthew Tkachuk)]
- What about the 4 gospels? [Matthew, Mark, Luke and John]
- Each gospel was a memoir of Jesus of Nazareth. And each memoir writer had an image which was connected to them.
- The symbols are taken from Revelation 4:7 which speaks of “living creatures” who give testimony about Jesus.
- Matthew: Flying Man– His gospel stresses Jesus Humanity
- Mark: The Lion— His gospel stresses Jesus Royalty
- Luke: The Flying Ox— His gospel stresses Jesus Sacrificial Offering
- John: The Eagle— His gospel stresses Jesus high Deity (or God-ness).
- Luther’s Rose
- Designed by Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant Reformation.
- A ‘graphic designer’ who developed what we would call a Brand, not by self-promotion, but simply because he had his own distinctive style of writing, art, music, and church ritual.
- Luther believed that you can’t earn your way to heaven by being a goody-goody, because you’ll always fail. But you can trust Jesus as your sub-in, your substitute, because he’s is perfect. Jesus’ perfections can make you acceptable to God.
- Lilies
- [Is anyone a gardener? ] What happens when you plant a lily bulb? [it dies]. But out of the ground comes a beautiful spring plant. That is the symbol of Jesus’ death, burial, and three days later, resurrection from the dead.
- The Lily is the symbol of literal rising from the dead by Jesus.
- Lamp
- “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Ps119.11)
- Spiritual insight and understanding.
- Book
- Bible. 66 books with a common plot written over hundreds of years by diverse authors, with the dramatic climax in the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
- Stormy Ship
- Who gets seasick?
- This symbol represents the church on the stormy waters of the world.
- It can also refer to the miracle when Jesus was sleeping on a boat during a terrible storm. When he woke up, he spoke to the wind and the storm ceased miraculously.
- Palm Branches
- Triumphal Entry
- Roman conquerors
- Son of David on a Donkey, humble, entering Jerusalem.
- Palm Branches laid down in honour of the king.
At this point, if you’d like to see more we have two other rooms with stained glass. You’re welcome to continue or if you’ve had enough, you can linger here and look at the inside of the sanctuary until we finish the extended tour.
Extended Tour
- [Sacristy/ Pastor’s Study] Globus Cruciger: The cross-bearing orb. When Jesus holds the globe with the cross on it, he’s called Salvator Mundi (Latin: “Saviour of the World”).
- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
- What’s the Bible reference for that one? [John 3:16] You see it as a sign in the crowd at football games or soccer stadiums.
- Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
- The two interior stained glass frames, aren’t really stained glass. They are more like painted glass. They are an inferior quality compared to the others.
- The first represents the ritual of Baptism. Baptism is the outward expression of true faith on the part of the person baptized. It’s a person following Jesus, and identifying with him by this ritual of initiation.
- The second shows the Lord’s supper, both the bread /in this case a wafer, and the wine.
- The picture is of the meal where believing people participate in a spiritual union with Jesus Christ, by eating this regular meal together with the rest of the local church family.
- At Calvary Grace, we pass around small gluten free crackers, and then small cups of ‘unfermented’ fruit of the vine.
- This lesser quality glass pieces illustrate that the church is actually two separate buildings.
- [Luther Hall] Bread of Life
- [What does the Loaf of Bread represent?…. For a while we used to give away Cobbs bread at our services to anyone who wanted it.]
- Jesus famously said, “ “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (Gospel of John (the Eagle] chapter 6.
- Ichthous
- [What is that? “A Jesus Fish”..Where do you see it? Back of a car…. sometimes you see the Darwin fish with the 4 legs sticking out of it.— Still looking for those transitional life forms between species.–smile—]
- You might know the story, This was a secret code which the outlawed Christians would use to see if a person was a fellow outlaw. It can be drawn with only two lines. One person would write the top, and the other would draw the bottom making the fish.
- But what do the letters mean?
- Iesous = Jesus/ Xristos = Christ/ Theos = God/ Huios = Son/ Soter=Saviour
- Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Saviour
- The acronym, Ichthous is the Greek word for FISH.
- Luther’s Rose
- The church was built by Germans from the Volga river in Russia, and they were Lutherans. That meant that they followed the Protestant Reformation begun by Martin Luther.
- The called that room LUTHER Hall. And we do to this day.
- Above the exit is Luther’s rose.
- Luther explained it in his own words [Only for the diehard fans]. See attached:
Conclusion:
That concludes our tour of Symbols in Stained Glass. You are welcome to walk through the sanctuary and take pictures.
If you’d like to discuss more of the history of the church, church art, or the Christian belief system, you’re welcome to leave your contact and one of our pastors can chat with you.
You’re also invited to attend our worship service tomorrow at 10:45. It will be filled with people from all backgrounds and cultures. You don’t have to be a believer of any sort to attend the public services. As we say, “Skeptics are welcome!”
If you would like to have a free bible, you are welcome to take one, even if you just want to look up the art history references.
We are volunteers so if there is any way we can improve our tour for next year please let us know.
Thank you for coming and may you keep on seeking the substance behind the symbols!
Appendix:
Luther on his graphic design of the Rose:
The first should be a black cross in a heart, which retains its natural color, so that I myself would be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us. “For one who believes from the heart will be justified” (Romans 10:10). Although it is indeed a black cross, which mortifies and which should also cause pain, it leaves the heart in its natural color. It does not corrupt nature, that is, it does not kill but keeps alive. “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17) but by faith in the crucified. Such a heart should stand in the middle of a white rose, to show that faith gives joy, comfort, and peace. In other words, it places the believer into a white, joyous rose, for this faith does not give peace and joy like the world gives (John 14:27). That is why the rose should be white and not red, for white is the color of the spirits and the angels (cf. Matthew 28:3; John 20:12). Such a rose should stand in a sky-blue field, symbolizing that such joy in spirit and faith is a beginning of the heavenly future joy, which begins already, but is grasped in hope, not yet revealed. And around this field is a golden ring, symbolizing that such blessedness in Heaven lasts forever and has no end. Such blessedness is exquisite, beyond all joy and goods, just as gold is the most valuable, most precious and best metal. This is my compendium theologiae [summary of theology]. I have wanted to show it to you in good friendship, hoping for your appreciation. May Christ, our beloved Lord, be with your spirit until the life hereafter. Amen
