The Shattered Stain Glass Window

My friend, Dennis Gray, moved in recent days with his wife, Pat, to the mountains of North Carolina.   Dennis is the new pastor of three churches in Ashe County outside of West Jefferson.    Though I will miss my association with Dennis as he moves several hours away from where I live, I was pleased that he was becoming the pastor of these three churches in Ashe County because I was pastor of those 3 United Methodist Churches many years ago.   I will always have fond memories for the people of those churches and be grateful for their love and grace to me. 

The photo above is a window in the fellowship hall  of Clifton Church.  Nestled at the foot of a mountain and within sight of the New River, Clifton is a beautiful setting where some faithful  followers of Christ Jesus gather to worship regularly.   There is a story behind this window that I was reminded of a few weeks ago and that story is as follows:

They built the fellowship hall of Clifton Church back in the 1980’s  a few years before I served there as their pastor.   The beautiful window was not so beautiful at one time.   It seems that many years ago that a car was making its way down the steep road beside the church.   The brakes of the vehicle were not working so the car crashed into the side of Clifton Church.   Damages to the church included a beautiful stained glass window that was shattered into pieces.     Thinking that the window was not repairable, church leaders put its pieces into the attic  of the church.   When they began building the  Clifton Church fellowship hall, they discovered the shattered remnants of that stained glass window that had been forgotten about.   Wondering if perhaps the pieces of stained glass would be fashioned into something of beauty for the new church fellowship hall,  church leaders took its pieces to a stained glass artist outside of Boone.   You can see in this picture what a wonderful job the stained glass artisan did.   It indeed is a thing of beauty.

I share that story because it is a fitting metaphor for what Christ does with our lives.   I don’t know about you, but there have been times when my life has been shattered into pieces.   Sometimes, the culprit has been  the actions of others and sometimes my life has been shattered through what I have done or not done.   Thanks be to God that we can bring the shattered pieces of our lives to the Great Artist, Christ Jesus, who takes us as we are and makes us a New Creation through the wonder of his grace and redeeming love.  II Corinthians 5:17 puts it this way:  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come;  the old has gone, the new is here!”    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

PRAYER :     O God,  we give you thanks for the new creation you make every day through the power and wonder of your love in Jesus Christ.  Create us new, O God, into the image of your son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.   Amen.