Christ the King Window

This window was a gift of the W. B. Brazelton Family. It is located high in the gable of the church, above the pipe organ. The window has its most brilliant moment of the day at about 11:00 a.m., at the peak of the worship hour.

From scripture and related first century writings, we know that Jesus was a Jewish teacher and healer, born about two thousand years ago, who grew up in Galilee. We know he gathered a group of imperfect men to follow him, and that some women also followed. His followers thought he was the messiah, and his critics thought he was a dangerous heretic. We know that at the age of about thirty he was crucified by Roman authorities.

This is where it could have ended. The dead body of a normal man could have been taken off the cross and placed in a tomb. His former followers could have been a disappointed group who had wasted years of their lives following a man who was not who he said he was. Jesus could have been nothing more than a couple of lines in the history of Judaism.

But the good news of Easter is that it didn’t end there. On the third day, this man rose from the dead. The man who had claimed to be the son of God left the tomb. He first descended into hell and then rose to join the creator and sustainer of all. He went to prepare a place for us in God’s heavenly kingdom.

When the Disciples first saw the risen Christ, they were confused. They felt both joy and fear, amazement and anxiety. Centuries later, Easter can still cause the same feelings inside us. Easter takes all that we know about how the world works and turns it upside down. The cross and the crown in this window don’t symbolize a victory over the armies of the world. They aren’t symbols of human conquest like our earthly crowns. They signify the victory of God, as revealed in Jesus, over evil and death. Because of Easter, the world can never be the same again. Easter tells us that death no longer has power over God’s children.

There is an even greater message for us from the resurrection. That message is that God is with us and will always be. In Jesus, God left the comfort and safety of heaven and became flesh to live among us. In Jesus, God experienced the depths of human suffering. Because Jesus endured the pain of the crucifixion, because he descended into hell, suffering and injustice no longer rule the world. There is no place, no matter how painful, that Jesus has not been before, and no place where God, in Jesus, will not be with us. After the life of Christ and his resurrection at Easter, we no longer live in a world composed only of human imperfection, we also live a world where Christ Jesus is accompanying us as we move towards the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.

As we gather to worship each week, look up and take comfort from the presence of this Christ the King window. Let it remind you that we don’t live in a Good Friday world, a world where all hope is gone, a world where God has left us. Let it remind you to rejoice in the fact that we live in an Easter world, a world where God loves us, a world where the risen Lord is with us always. Praise be to God!

Brandon Gilliam