stained
glass
by Felicity Hansen
In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the
earth. Now the earth was a
formless void, there was darkness
over the deep, and God's spirit
hovered over the water. God said,
"Let there be light" and there was
light. God saw that light was
good, and God divided light from
darkness. God called light "day"
and darkness he called "night".
Evening came and morning came: the
first day.
The First
Day is based on the
Northern Lights which are
frequently visible from Mull. I
based this panel on a
picture in which the shape
of a dove could be
discerned. I exaggerated this to
represent the Spirit of God. The
horizon of the earth beneath, made
of streaky-blue baroque glass, is
reminiscent of the first photos of
the earth from space. Within the
wings of the dove, the whole
spectrum of visible light, from
red to violet, can be seen. This
spectrum is also intended to make
viewers think of a rainbow, the
sign of God's covenant with the
whole of creation (Genesis 9:12).
God said, "Let
there be a vault in the waters to
divide the waters in two." And so
it was. God made the vault and it
divided the waters above the vault
from the waters under the vault.
God called the vault "heaven".
Evening came and morning came; the
second day.
The Second
Day shows the
creation of the vault of heaven
as an aperture (similar to a
camera lens opening) with a
circular space being formed, and
the dark mass of waters being
separated into "sky" colours and
clouds above, and "sea" colours
and waves below. The vault
itself is made of iridised water
glass, reflecting the fragility
and delicacy of the ecosystems
that will lie within it.
God said, "Let
the waters under heaven come
together into a single mass, and
let dry land appear." And so it
was. God called the dry land
"earth" and the mass of waters
"seas", and God saw that it was
good. God said, "Let the earth
produce vegetation: seed-bearing
plants, and fruit trees bearing
fruit with their seed inside, on
the earth." And so it was. The
earth produced vegetation;
plants bearing seed in their
several kinds, and trees bearing
fruit with their seed inside in
their several kinds. God saw
that it was good. Evening came
and morning came: the third day.
The Third
Day shows the
separation of dry land from the
sea, followed by the creation of
trees and vegetation. The dry
land is shown as an island,
(Mull), and the trees are drawn
from an area of mixed woodland
just north of the main ferry
terminal in Craignure - the
first thing people see as they
arrive from the mainland. In the
foreground, a crystal "Tree of
Life" shows that life, in fact,
has its origin elsewhere, and
that all creation subsists
beneath its extended and
protective branches. A gentle
breeze appears to be wafting
yellow pollen across to the
right as life is given the
ability to reproduce itself.
God said, "Let
there be lights in the vault of
heaven to divide day from night,
and let them indicate festivals,
days and years. Let them be
lights in the vault of heaven to
shine on the earth." And so it
was. God made the two great
lights, the greater light to
govern the day, the smaller
light to govern the night, and
the stars. God set them in the
vault of heaven to shine on the
earth, to govern the day and the
night and to divide light from
darkness. God saw that it was
good. Evening came and morning
came: the fourth day.
On the Fourth
Day the sun, moon
and stars are created. Since the
sun and moon appear to us to be
the same size in the sky, two
identical roundels of glass were
used to represent them, one
amber, one clear. According to
the Book of Job (38:8) "All the
stars of the morning sing for
joy", so I incorporated joyful
movement into the stars. The
stars represent stages in the
current theory of star
formation: first dark objects
(plain glass in dark colours),
which then heat up as they
condense (iridised glass to
represent the glow of heat) and
finally ignite and become
self-sustaining "light-givers"
(the white star in the centre).
Today we know that our sun is
also a star, and so I have shown
it in a similar form to the
stars. The moon, by contract, is
peaceful and still.
God said, "Let
the waters teem with living
creatures, and let birds fly
above the earth within the vault
of heaven." And so it was. God
created great sea-serpents and
every kind of living creature
with which the waters teem, and
every kind of winged creature.
God saw that it was good. God
blessed them saying, "Be
fruitful, multiply and fill the
waters of the seas; and let the
birds multiply upon the earth."
Evening came and morning came:
the fifth day.
For the Fifth
Day there seemed to
be no more appropriate way to
link the sea and the sky than
the mountain Ben More, instantly
recognisable as the skyline of
Mull and the only Munro that can
be climbed from sea level. To
represent all the birds of
heaven I chose a golden eagle
since Mull has a greater density
of golden eagles per square mile
than anywhere else in Europe. To
make the waters "teem", I
deliberately confused fish
shapes and wave shapes.
God said, "Let
the earth produce every kind of
living creature; cattle,
reptiles and every kind of wild
beast." And so it was. God made
every kind of wild beast, every
kind of cattle and every kind
land reptile. God saw that it
was good. God said, "Let us make
man in our own image, in the
likeness of ourselves, and let
them be masters of the fish of
the sea, the birds of heaven,
the cattle and all the wild
beasts and all the reptiles that
crawl upon the earth." God
created man in the image of
himself, in the image of God he
created him, male and female he
created them. God blessed them,
saying to them, "Be fruitful,
multiply, fill the earth and
conquer it. Be masters of the
fish of the sea, the birds of
heaven, and all living animals
on the earth." God said, "See, I
give you all the seed-bearing
plants that are upon the whole
earth, and all the trees with
seed-bearing fruit; this shall
be your food. To all the wild
beasts, all birds of heaven and
all living reptiles on the earth
I give all the foliage of plants
for food." And so it was. God
saw all he had made, and indeed
it was very good. Evening came
and morning came: the sixth day.
The Sixth
Day shows the
creation of all land animals,
and finally man: "male and
female he created them." I had
been specifically asked to
include a Highland cow, but
chose instead to make it a
Highland calf, along with a
young red deer, to give the
feeling of all creation being
very young. Adam and Eve also
are shown as child-like, with
almost unformed features, since
here they are part of the state
of "original innocence". A black
rabbit (a local mutation of wild
rabbits) nestles in Adam's arms.
The Eas For waterfall on the
north of Mull again illustrates
that the River of Life has its
origin elsewhere, and the Tree
of Life appears for a second
time.
Thus heaven and
earth were completed with all
their array. On the seventh day
God completed the work he had
been doing. He rested on the
seventh day after all the work
he had been doing. God blessed
the seventh day and made it
holy, because on that day he
rested after all his work of
creating.
The design for
the Seventh
Day is based on the
following reflection by Julian
of Norwich:
Thus heaven and
earth were completed with all
their array. On the seventh day
God completed the work he had
been doing. He rested on the
seventh day after all the work
he had been doing. God blessed
the seventh day and made it
holy, because on that day he
rested after all his work of
creating.
The design for
the Seventh Day is based on the
following reflection by Julian
of Norwich:
"He showed me a
little thing, the size of a
hazelnut, on the palm of my
hand, round like a ball. I
looked at it thoughtfully and
wondered, ‘What is this?’ And
the answer came, ‘It is all that
is made.’ I marvelled that it
continued to exist and did not
suddenly disintegrate; it was so
small. And again my mind
supplied the answer, ‘It exists
both now and for ever because
God loves it.’ In short,
everything owes its existence to
the love of God.
In this little
thing, I saw three truths. The
first is that God made it; the
second is that God loves it; and
the third is that God sustains
it. (…) We have got to realise
the littleness of creation and
see it for the nothing that it
is before we can love and
possess God who is uncreated.
(…) He is true rest. It is his
will that we should know him,
and his pleasure that we should
rest in him. Nothing less will
satisfy us." (Julian of Norwich:
Revelations of Divine Love,
chapter 5)
The design is
called "Desert Sunrise" and
includes a dramatic sky, golden
clouds, sand dunes and a desert
pool, drawn from pictures and
photographs of the Algerian
desert. The colours and
horizontal lines convey an
experience of peace, and show
the "fullness of light" now that
creation is complete.
The gold clouds
may be seen as a divine hand, no
longer working but resting,
supporting the "littleness of
creation". Look closely at the
clear, faceted circle that
represents the whole of creation
as Julian saw it, and you will
notice that its surface consists
of triangular facets. These
triangles represent the Trinity
and indicate that the whole of
creation is made in the image of
God the Creator.
The previous
seven panels have laid the
foundation for this final panel
which depicts the "Eighth Day of
Creation", a concept more common
in the Early Church than it is
today. The Eighth Day is the
Eternal, Unending Day on which
the whole of creation is made
new, and the Kingdom of God is
definitively established
forever. The Resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead is
the event in which this
transformation occurs.
The text chosen
to illustrate the Eighth
Day is taken from
the Book of Revelation (Chapter
21):
"Then I saw a
new heaven and a new earth; the
first heaven and the first earth
had disappeared now, and there
was no longer any sea. I saw the
holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of
heaven, as beautiful as a bride
all dressed for her husband.
Then I heard a loud voice call
from the throne, "You see this
city? Here God lives among human
beings. He will make his home
among them; they shall be his
people and he will be their God;
his name is Emmanuel, which
means "God with them". He will
wipe away all tears from their
eyes; there will be no more
death, and no more mourning or
sadness. The world of the past
has gone." Then the one sitting
on the throne spoke, "Now I am
making the whole of creation
new."
In front of the
city stands the Tree of Life
(Rev. 22:2): "And the leaves of
the Tree are for the healing of
the nations"
Elsewhere in
Revelation, the walls of the
City of God are described as
"crystal-clear diamond". To
reflect this, the walls have
been made out of glass bevels.
The sizes of the bevels are in
units of 1, 3, 6 and 9. These
are numbers that reflect God,
who is One God in Three Persons.
The blocks of three (e.g three
triangles, which each measure 3"
by 3" by 3", and blocks of three
bevels side by side) emphasise
that God is the "Thrice Holy"
God (cf Isaiah 6). These numbers
also indicate the 12 apostles
who are the foundation and gates
of the City.
From the dome
downwards, bevels form the shape
of a cross. But outside the
city, the living tree indicates
that the Cross has now been
revealed as the Tree of Life. It
stands outside the city walls as
the Cross of Jesus did on Good
Friday, but now it is the source
of eternal life.
This window was
commissioned by the Catholic
Christian Community as a
memorial to Roger Felter, who
first brought the community
together, to mark the 10th
anniversary of his death in
1993.
The theme of the
Algerian desert relates to
Roger’s origins as a Frenchman
born and raised in Algeria.
Unfortunately,
this window is very difficult to
photograph because of its
south-facing position and the
fact that it includes sections
of coloured mirror, such as the
Golden Dome. This is the
best photo so far, though far
from adequate.
The glass used
as a surround for the image of
the Holy City is an amber
ring-mottle, because the effect
of this glass is reminiscent of
bridal lace, and highlights the
concept of the City being "as
beautiful as a bride". The city
is recognisably Jerusalem, the
historical site of the death and
resurrection of Christ; the
Golden Dome is one of the most
easily identifiable elements of
present-day Jerusalem, and marks
the site where the Temple of God
once stood.
Parts of the
City are done in coloured
mirror. Thus anyone who stands
in front of the picture should
see themselves reflected in the
City of God; the panels on the
wall opposite, showing the Six
Days of Creation may also be
reflected, especially the Third
Day, on which the first living
things (trees) are created with
the capacity to transmit life
and thus perpetuate their
existence. The blue circle
embedded in the city wall is the
pool of the waters of baptism,
the "river of life" which is our
entry into the City.
Link
to
Felicity Hansen web site
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