Earlier this year the Lutheran Church of the Master, Airdrie, AB, undertook a project to replace the window coverings on the windows behind the church altar with stained glass windows. The windows needed to have some kind of cover or light diffusion in order to facilitate the online streaming of services.
The project was initiated by Lorrie Tansowny, worship co-ordinator, Pastor Tim Wray, and Lee Smith (the artist). The costs associated with the glass, and other supplies for the windows were paid with donations from the congregation. Each three-by-six-foot window costs about $1,200 in supplies. Funds have been raised for five windows in total, with three windows now completed and installed.
The planning, designing a pattern, purchasing the separate sheets of coloured glass, cutting and then piecing the glass together involved many donated hours by the artist and others. The “Gethsemane” window, which was the most complicated to craft to date, took approximately 300 hours for the volunteer artist and craftsman to complete. The project team is grateful to businesses in Airdrie and area who have been generous in providing discounts on the project materials (Mukluks and Magpies Stained Glass) and enlarging and printing the patterns for free (a local printer).
As work began, the theme of the project evolved to become a series of images from the story of Christ. The first window was named “The Master” and was unveiled and dedicated on the first Sunday in Advent in 2023. The second window was installed in January 2024 and dedicated a couple of weeks later. It is called “The Tree of Life.” On Maundy Thursday 2024, “Gethsemane” was installed and was dedicated in early April. These first windows and the upcoming fourth have been donated from single families and have been given in memory of deceased loved ones.
There are three other windows planned that will also be located at the front of the church and they will be a manger scene, a Pentecost/Baptism scene and the last will be Christ coming again on a white horse in the clouds.
Pastor Tim Wray says “The stained glass in our sanctuary proclaims, ‘this is a storied place’. It is God’s story and that story is interwoven through the Bible, our hymns, our worship, the stained glass and our common life. The many textures of the individual glass pieces create a 3D effect that reach into the worship space as you meditate on them. I’m amazed at how the glass images help to animate our worship. With each church season new meanings emerge. For in-
stance, the beam of light in “The tree of life” brings to mind the first day of creation, Let there be light, the prelude to the Gospel of John, the light shines in the darkness, the emanating light at the empty tomb, the ascension of Christ and the dawn of a new creation.”
To date the project has exceeded all expectations. The windows have dramatically changed not only the appearance but the feeling one gets coming into the Lutheran Church of the Master sanctuary. The windows are visible from Main Street in Airdrie and the congregation has plans to light them from the inside to make them more visible to the community and passersby at night.—Lorrie Tansowny and Wendy Christensen-Grosfield
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