Sermons in
Glass: 1. Soli Deo Gloria
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
September 8, 2013
On a couple of occasions I have observed
some of you looking at our beautiful stained glass windows while I am giving
the sermon.
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing
wrong with that!
Actually it’s a good thing because
there are wonderful sermons in our windows.
That is why I have decided to give a
series of sermons based on the stories in the windows. I will take one lancet a
Sunday.
Let’s stop right there.
I have really enjoyed preparing this
series because I have learned many things. The first is what a lancet is. I
always thought that a lancet was a pricking needle used to obtain drops of
blood.
A lancet is also a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the
"lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Our lancets, or panels, happen to not
have a pointed top.
The dedication of our windows took
place on October 11, 1981—thirty-two years ago. The Rev. Charles Anker was on
the ministry staff at that time and is with us this morning along with Hunter
Stewart who was the general contractor for the project.
Rev. Anker would you come and share
with us your memories of this dream come true?
Mr. Hunter Stewart, what are your
memories?
There is a lovely book that tells the
story of the windows. In it there is a sentence that got my attention as I
prepared these sermons. “It was hoped
that sermons in glass would surround the sanctuary.”
Rev. Anker I
think that goal was accomplished!
The upper panel of each of the twelve
lancets is designated for the life of Jesus and the bottom panels are scenes of
church history. The six major theme windows have biblical scenes.
We begin this sermon series with the
front nave window.
The first lancet has four stories:
The Manger scene at the top
Elijah on Mt. Carmel (Not
Carmel as we know it in by-the-Sea!)
Johann Sebastian Bach
St. Augustine
1. The Manger Scene--Luke 2:7 reads,
“And she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth,
and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”
Here we see Mary adoring the baby
Jesus.
This is where we begin.
We begin with the birth of Jesus and
it is my goal that we see Jesus in new ways in each of the upcoming sermons.
There was no room in the inn was
symbolic of what was to happen to Jesus. The
only place where there was room for Him was on a cross.
He sought an entry to the over-crowded
hearts of people;
he could not find it;
and still his search—and His
rejection—go on.
The purpose of this series of sermons
is not to admire our windows, even
though we will, my purpose is that we will open our over-crowded hearts to
Jesus.
2.
Elijah on Mt. Carmel
Let me tell you
about Elijah.
Ahab was king at the time and the
Bible says, “Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all
who were before him!” Wow! That’s pretty bad.
Not only that, but he took Jezebel as
his wife.
Why is that important?
It is important because Jezebel
worshiped a false God named Baal.
You also need to know that there was a
drought.
So, the prophets of Baal and Elijah gathered
on Mount Carmel to pray for rain—the prophets of Baal were praying to their god
and Elijah praying to his God that fire would fall from heaven for the
sacrifice.
This was a test of the Gods.
The scripture says, “So Ahab sent to
all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel.” (1 Kings
18:20)
The Prophets of Baal cried and ran
around the altar for fire to fall—450 of them.
Elijah mocked them and told them to
cry louder that maybe Baal was sleeping.
That is when Elijah took twelve stones
and built an altar. “Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the
tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel
shall be your name” (vs. 31).
He filled the trench around the altar
with water, “so that the water ran all around the altar, and filled the trench
also with water.” (vs. 35)
Then the fire fell!
And the drought ends.
And Elijah gets depressed.
And Jezebel—well she gets eaten by
dogs.
And then Elijah ascends into heaven on
a chariot of fire!
O, by the way, do you see the two
seagulls in this panel?
3.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach sits at the
organ console.
The Chi Rho symbol stands for Christ.
SDG is Bach’s notation used so often
on his manuscripts, “Soli Deo Gloria.” ‘To God alone be praise’ was Bach’s
signature.
It was his way of giving credit to who
credit is due.
It was his way of giving praise to the
Christ Child in the top panel.
It was his way of saying that even as
God was with Elijah, God was with him.
Listen to the music that is found on
page 644 of the United Methodist Hymnal. It says at the bottom that it was
arranged by J.S. Bach, 1723.
Marshall Carpenter what does it mean
that it was arranged by Bach?
Listen to Marshall playing it through
once and then let’s sing Stanza 1 of ‘Jesus, Joy of our Desiring.’
Jesus, joy of our desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.
Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round thy throne.
Here
are a few fun facts about Bach’s life:
Bach once turned down a job because he
did not want to marry the daughter, of the church musician which was a
condition for his employment.
Bach married Maria Barbara Bach, his second
cousin. They had seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood.
You know the rest of the story….every year there is a Bach Festival in
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
4. St. Augustine
St. Augustine was born in 354—that’s
almost 1700 years ago!
He is considered one of the four great
fathers of the Latin Church. Here he is sitting at his desk writing his
theological masterpiece, “City of God.”
The heart aflame transfixed by arrows
stands for Augustine’s fervent love for Christ and remorse for past sin.
In our United Methodist Hymnal on page
423 we see a quote from Augustine of Hippo or St. Augustine, North Africa 4th
Century titled, ‘Finding Rest in God.’
“Thou hast made us for thyself, O
Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in thee.”
This quote reflects Matthew 11:28,
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heaven burdens, and I will
give you rest.”
Here are some interesting things about
St. Augustine:
In his early life he was
influenced by some rather immoral friends.
It was during this period
that he uttered his famous prayer, "Grant
me, O God chastity, but not yet!"
St. Augustine
"vigorously condemned the practice of induced abortion" as a crime, in any stage of pregnancy.
Nonetheless, he asserted, peacefulness in the face of a grave wrong that could only be stopped by violence
would be a sin.
Augustine introduces the
concept of a just war, in his work The
City of God.
Isn’t that poignant in this moment of
our lives as we debate going to war with Syria? Remember that Augustine lived
1700 years ago!
I hope you didn’t miss the cypress
tree and a Monterey pine in the decorative margin.
Augustine later wrote an account of
his conversion – his very
transformation, as Paul described – in his Confessions.
And that brings us full circle.
We go back to the top panel—to the
birth of Jesus.
Elijah experienced the Living God.
Bach exclaimed, Soli Deo Gloria.
Augustine was transformed by the
Christ.
Do you know that Christ?
Have you encountered Jesus?
Where is Jesus in your life?
When your mind wonders from my sermons
and you look at the windows I hope that you will see Jesus the Living Christ.
We will close by singing, “Joy to the
world. The Lord is come.”
Next week the ‘Sermon in Glass’ will
be Jesus in the Temple. We will learn about the Tree of Jesse and St. Boniface.
