Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Lent/Holy Week Window

This window captures with compelling starkness the tragedy and suffering of the crucifixion of Christ.  The cross on which Jesus died -- plain in construction and terrifying in the traces remaining of his struggle -- looms in the foreground.  The hill where the execution took place is called Golgotha -- the place of the skull.  In ancient Christian portrayals, there was often a skull at the foot of the cross representing the skull of Adam.  It was by Adam's disobedience that death came into the world.  The blood of the Lamb reaches the skull to restore humanity with God.

In the center of the cross of the initials INRI, which recall the placard that was placed above Christ by Pilate in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek that declares his crime.  The initials are the Latin abbreviation for Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.  Surrounding the placard is the crown of thorns that was mockingly placed on Jesus' head by the Roman soldiers.  They ironically were crowning him for the kingdom over which he rightly reigns.  The backdrop to the cross is the clouds and lightning that represent the violent storm and earthquake that raged at the moment of Christ's death.  In this window the shaft of light is at its most tenuous, as with his murder it appeared that the forces of darkness had prevailed.

The minor theme is "I am the true vine" (John 15:5).  The woody vine plays against the crown of thorns above it in a suggestive way.  Jesus told his friends that, just as a branch cut off from the sap of the vine will die, so would they be lost if they cut themselves off from him.  The alienating experience that the disciples have in their falling away from him after his arrest confirmed their Master's words.  The grapevine also has long been suggestive of the fruit of the vine partaken at the Lord's Supper.  The church exists because in the sacrament we are reminded of the life-giving substance of God shared in communion.