First Sunday in Trinity
Gospel Window

Perhaps you’ve heard about the little boy who came home from Vacation Bible School with a whopping rendition of Moses and the Red Sea. Nine-year-old Joey, was asked by his mother what he had learned in Bible school. "Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then, he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved."  "Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked. "Well, no, Mom. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!" There’s no doubt we need to tell the real stories of Scripture the way they occurred, especially the greatest story ever told.

Allow me to tell you the way it really happened regarding the stained glass window on the front of the church. Almost from the beginning of the planning of our windows, it was called the G-Window. I assumed that it was called that because somehow it was part of an alphabetized system for all the stained glass windows. One day I was actually needing information about one of the other windows so I called Frank Meier, our architect. I said something to the effect, “Frank I know the front window is called the G-window, which letter is the window at the front of the south transept?” Frank explained to me that he hadn’t put any lettering system to the windows. And in fact, the front window was called a G-Window because the elaborate framing is designated by the manufacturer a G-Frame. So the window was always called the G-Window.

I think the Lord must have been hitting me over the head with His purpose for what picture He wanted to go into the window. But I was trying to figure out a picture for that window that would follow the communion themes on all the other windows. God had a different plan. It just took a while for Him to get it through my thick head. For, at that point I didn’t catch the connection between the designation, G-Window, and what the window turned out to be. Then one day, I was looking up at the frame after it was installed. I still couldn’t decide what should go in the space. Then it hit me. There are four panels for windows. Why not simply put the writers of the Four Gospels, the Evangelists on the front of the Church. After all, we come in by the Gospel. We go out to take the Gospel. Hmmm, I thought to myself, “G-Window. Frank instinctively called it the G-Window for another ultimate reason in the will of the Lord. God all along had wanted the window to be a G-Window for another reason, a Gospel reason. As the Lord’s mysterious will began to unfold to me, I could then see the perfect scheme for the three windows above the Gospel writers. Over the altar window, you’ll notice the emphasis on the Holy Trinity, the Three persons of the Triune Godhead involved in the work of redemption: the Father, symbolized by the hand, the Holy Spirit represented by the dove, and of course the Son. In a similar way connecting the entrance to the altar window, the same symbols of the Godhead are on the G-Window.

The Gospel window leads us in and out under the guidance of the Triune God. Under the strong Name of the Trinity, as we sang today, appropriately on the First Sunday after Trinity, are the four Evangelists. Matthew was a tax collector. Next is Mark, he was the young man who fled so fast from the pressures of the crucifixion of Christ that he literally ran out of his clothes. Obviously he came to a better mind, repented of his cowardice and wrote perhaps the most accessible of the four Gospels because of its shortness. Then there is Luke the medical doctor. This learned man was so touched by the message of Christianity that he gave up his profession to research and to produce the great corpus of New Testament literature, Luke/Acts. Finally, John was a Jewish priest converted to believe in the Christ. His Gospel begins like Genesis. The same Word that was at the beginning Word became flesh.

The word for Gospels goes back to a Greek word, euangellion, from which we derive the English word evangelism. The Greek word is a compound of good (eu) and angellion from which we get the word angel. It literally means messenger. Putting the compound of good and messenger together we have the concept of “good messaging.” The phrase good messaging eventually became another word for the euangellion, the Gospel. The word comes down to us from the Anglo Saxon, godspell. It signifies God’s spell or as we would render it today, God’s story, the Gospel.

Significantly, God’s story has been entrusted to us through the Gospel writers. In the ancient world, the Greek word for euangellion was quite familiar. It was actually a special person who went before the Emperor from town to town declaring his victories in battle. He was the victor over all, the lord to whom everyone must yield. In a similar way, we are to announce to the world in word and deed that Christ is the Lord and Savior of all. He has died, He has risen, and He will come again. In a similar way, we Christians are the ones called upon to run before the Lord announcing His coming. The somewhat scary aspect of the euangellion, the Gospel, is that God has left this responsibility to us. And especially as Anglican Christians, we’re at a moment where we virtually have to start over in the west and rebuild Anglican churches on the Gospel.

According to a legend, when Jesus returned to heaven following his death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb, the angels gathered in amazement. They gazed at the wounds in His hands and feet, and shuddered to recall His suffering. Finally Gabriel spoke: “Master, you suffered terribly down there. Do they know and appreciate the extent of your sacrifice?” “No,” said Jesus. “Not yet. Right now only a handful of people in Palestine know.” “Then what have you done to let everyone else know?” asked Gabriel. “I’ve asked Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the apostles and a few others to spread the news. They will tell others who will in turn tell others until the message spreads to the ends of the earth.” But Gabriel knowing the nature of human beings, asked, “What is Plan B?” “I have no Plan B,” replied Christ. “There is no alternative strategy. I’m counting on them.”

Twenty-one centuries later, Christ still has no other plan. He’s counting on you and me. All of us are here because someone told us. May the glorious, magnificent Gospel window on the front of the Church always remind us that there is no Plan B. We’re part of Plan A. And yes, we need to tell the greatest story ever told the way it really happened. Amen.