Windows with layers

Dear Friends in Christ -

I had an amazing experience last week . . . I went to THE GLASS SOURCE stained glass studio here in Shelton (owned and operated by one of our parishioners, Mike Skrtic) and helped to make the new stained glass windows that have been commissioned for St. Paul's.

As happens in many churches, generous parishioners have stepped forward to give these windows in honor of loved ones. But it is a unique and wonderful thing to be able to actually be a part of making the windows.

Wow - what fun! I love making things with my hands - sewing, needlework, cooking, beading, collage - but I've never had a chance to work with stained glass. Mike and the other folks from St. Paul's who are actually making the windows - the Rogowskis and the Bartomellis - were welcoming and encouraging. They did the hard parts (cutting and grinding the glass pieces) and showed me how to do an easy part (wrapping the edges of each piece with copper tape).

I was amazed to learn that the most luminous stained glass windows (the large central window in our chapel, for example) are made in layers, with three to five layers of glass in different colors put together to make one "piece". Layers. That explains the dimension-ality we experience when we look at the window.

Layers. The layers of our lives are like that, too. The layers of who we are in Christ, the layers of things we do in Christ make us more luminous. Each of us has a unique configuration of layers that cause us to bring God's light to the world in unique ways.

May God's light shine through you this week.
Blessings,
Janet+