Windows Feeding Light into the World

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Six stained glass windows from Canterbury Cathedral are on view at the Cloisters in NYC. They were crafted in the 12th century, 800 years before the beautiful windows at Princeton United Methodist Church were made. Yet despite the difference in age, the windows on Nassau Street share the same inspiring properties.

In the Middle Ages, said critic Holland Cotter in his review of the exhibition for the New York Times,  “Churches were conceived of as truth-holding boxes of light, but also as power stations, feeding light into the world.”

What an exciting concept! When we pass through the Sanford Davis Room, we see the awesome, huge “Let the Children Come to Me” window.

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Now that window can remind us that the church holds the light of truth and that we can help “feed that light into the world.”

Noticing the “Let the Children Come to Me” window is particularly fitting for Sunday, March 3, when the Sunday School lesson focuses on that very story in Luke 18: 15-17.

One big difference between PUMC’s windows and those in medieval churches where the windows could be 60 feet above the floor: Ours are mostly at eye level.

As in medieval times, the light shining into our windows changes according to the weather and the time of day. Little Sam noticed that during the coffee hour last week. “Look Mom,” he said, “Just now, the light shone through Jesus’s face!”

Photograph of the Cloisters by Byron Smith. Photograph of the PUMC window by Patricia Hatton. The Cloisters exhibit remains through May 18, 212-923-3700.