We wish you all a beautiful Easter, from all of us here at Associated Crafts® & Willet Hauser!
The Resurrection of Christ chancel window is one of the thirty-seven windows we designed and created for Birmingham, AL’s Trinity United Methodist Church in 1977. It is, perhaps, one of the most striking Resurrection depictions in our archive! A rich in symbolism as it is in color, we thought you might be interested in learning about the imagery behind this beautiful work.
According to the original description,
The design submitted to Trinity United Methodist Church by Willet Studios has at its center an arresting figure of the risen Christ. He is the source of dazzling rays of light defined by the lead lines of the glass. In the upper corners of the medallion are seen the alpha and omega. At the edges are angels with folded hands. Two angels above hold a crown over His head. At the extreme peak of the window, God’s hand extends down in benediction.
Below the medallion which contains Christ are the Centurion guards who shook and became as dead men when the angel rolled back the stone from the door of the tomb.
In a secondary medallion under the Resurrection is the Last Supper. Christ stands at the center blessing the bread and wine, the elements of the ritual meal. Around the table, His twelve disciples are clustered. At the extreme left, Judas turns away holding a bag of money. Interrupting the ornamental border pattern of the window on either side of this scene are grapes and wheat. The inscription at the bottom, from John 11:25, reads “I am the resurrection and the life.” This is flanked by two symbols of the resurrection, the butterfly and the phoenix. The ancients thought that the mythical phoenix, when old, set fire to its nest and rose rejuvenated from the ashes. The butterfly recalls not only Christ’s resurrection but the resurrection of all the faithful. The larvae represents life on earth, while the cocoon is like death and the grave from which the butterfly flies up on beautiful wings symbolizing the believer ascending to heaven to experience life after death. In the lower corners of the borders are pomegranates from which the seeds are bursting, just as Christ burst from the grave which could not contain him.
