I’ve been thinking a lot about windows lately as I prepare the write ups and lead the children’s talks on some of our memorial windows. In January and February we celebrated the Town and Channen families for their  contribution to the fabric of our church building and the life of our parish. In March we took a closer looker at the paired Betts windows. And so it will go throughout the anniversary year.

Someone remarked to me how the children will always remember the details of the windows that we have examined. It’s a nice thought, and I do like to imagine them in their own churches in the future or coming back to All Saints’ as adults and looking at a particular window and saying, “I know a story about that…”

I also think about the grown children of the former Incumbents who have visited us already this year and I imagine how it must be for them to return to the church where they spent many youthful years. Were there features of the church building that were comfortingly familiar to them or has it all changed too much? Are there spaces and places they would have liked to explore to bring back more memories? Do they find themselves reliving a memory of a Sunday School lesson, a certain hymn, or a church furnishing and saying, “I know a story about that…”?

We share these stories about the stained glass windows to inspire the present and future members of our parish. The messages found in the memorials of one generation are an invitation to the next, an invitation to focus on our mission, to look to the ways and spaces where God’s light gets in and to the places where we, as a church, can still dispel darkness.

There is still much to come in this sesquicentennial year. I am hopeful old friends, former members, newcomers, and seekers will peek in our windows – both real and digital – and that they will see something that speaks to them and inspires them with a sense of Spirit. And that in years ahead, we’ll all be saying, “I know a story about that…”

~ Arleane Ralph

 

The G# and the A# bells that were added to the tower in 2012 weigh about 91kgs (about 200 lbs) each. They measure approximately 52cm and 45cm (20 and 18 inches) respectively, in diameter.

 

On February 21st, we welcomed members of the Channen family as we acknowledge their contribution to the fabric of the church in the form of the Empty Tomb window, dedicated to the glory of God and the memory of the Rev. Canon A. Gordon Channen (Incumbent 1941-1953). The Rev. Channen is described in archival documents as being ‘infectiously lighthearted’ and having a ‘welcoming sense of humour’ and a ‘kindly spirit.’ We were delighted to have his grown children join us as part of our anniversary year and to be able to honour him and this beautiful window as part of our Lenten observance.

The beauty of the Channen memorial window is how strikingly alive it seems. Iconic symbols of the Resurrection—lilies or the   phoenix—which are typical of Easter windows are not present here. This is not a set or iconographic composition. Rather it is a dramatized depiction of this singular moment of discovery, a glimpse of a narrative in progress.

The women have only just arrived. The spices to prepare Jesus’ body are still in their hands. Of the two women standing, notice the woman in the full white veil. By the tilt of her jaw and the clarity of her profile, we can tell her gaze is intently upon the angel. Her expression shows no doubt. It is beautifully  reposed, almost hopeful. She does not turn away. Her posture and the restraining hand of the other woman suggest a  continuing forward motion. The hem of her gown and her head covering still swing out behind her as if she has only just come to a stop. The woman in blue has dropped to her knees, but here too the attitude of her body suggests she has only just been halted in surprise. She has raised one hand to her face, but in the other she still holds the ewer of spices. Her approach has been abruptly checked by the presence of the angel.

The right-hand panel presents such a contrast to the attitudes in the left-hand panel. Here the angel’s face is neutral and placid. Our eyes are drawn to the empty tomb by the drape of sheets and the angel’s outstretched hand, but the image is essentially without motion. There are no raised arms, clasped hands, no swinging hems, no haste arrested nor faces averted. The angel sits in pacific stillness here.

License has been taken of course in representing a sepulcher instead of a cave, and the empty tomb, trailing sheets, and the bare cobblestones in the foreground occupy a relatively large portion of the panel. Paradoxically this panel is essentially an image of nothing. And yet it is everything.

The empty tomb, abandoned burial cloths, the placid angel are carefully contrasted with the energy of the women’s arrival.       Similarly the mute rocks and dark tomb are balanced by the brilliant blues and whites and the tumultuous glass of the sky above the women’s heads, where we see the effect of clouds rolling away and a new rising sun breaking through.

Finally, in the circular window that tops the two panels, we find the chalice and paten (with the draped corporal echoing the   lines of the women’s dresses and the discarded burial cloths). There, above all else, are the emblems of the Christ who died and     who is resurrected for us.

The most southerly window on the east wall of the church was installed and dedicated in 1970 in memory of  William Clarence Town and Georgina Isabelle Phillips Town. The window beautifully depicts the Adoration of the Shepherds.

Notice how the posture of Mary, in traditional blue, in the right-hand panel is mirrored in the stance of the shepherd, also in blue, in the left panel. The shepherd cradles a lamb in his arms in a way that echoes Mary’s tender grasp on the Christ child. Often in depictions of the Adoration of the Shepherds, a lamb is depicted as if sleeping at the foot of the manger to symbolize the slain Lamb of God. Here the lamb in the foreground looks alert and adoring as if to remind us to be like the Bethlehem shepherds who eagerly went to see and hear and rejoice in the birth of our Saviour. The lamp, just above Joseph’s shoulder, is the traditional symbol of wisdom and the search for faith.

In the circular window above, the star of Bethlehem is featured, set in eye-catching strips of varying shades of blue, and surrounded by seven stars, perhaps the seven stars that are the angels (messengers) of the Book of Revelation, which are a sign that we should walk steadfastly with God.

Mr. Town, a funeral director, moved his family to Whitby from Brockville in 1927 and established his business on Brock Street South. From that time until their deaths, Mr. and Mrs. Town were faithful servants of both the parish church of All Saints’ Church and the town of Whitby.

They were most generous with their time and treasures and left a legacy to All Saints’, not only in gifts that are still used in the church today, but also in a family of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who continue to worship at and contribute to the life of this church.

The Town family and the beautiful Adoration window were recognized in our service on Janury 17 as part of our 150th anniversary celebrations.