The Rt. Rev. Melissa Skelton blesses three of eight new stained-glass windows centered on the stories of women in the Bible at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, Washington, on Jan. 25. Photo: Jennifer Winter Photography
[Episcopal News Service] Eight new stained-glass windows that feature women of the Bible were blessed during the Sunday service Jan. 25 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, Washington, in the greater Seattle area.
Three of the eight windows feature women of the Old Testament and five are from stories in the Gospels and Acts, the Rev. Liz Costello, the church’s rector, told Episcopal News Service.
They are not the first of the church’s more than 70 stained glass windows to feature women, she said, but they are the first to depict them as the main focus and not as supporting characters.
They include:
- Ruth and Naomi (Ruth 2)
- Miriam (Exodus 15:2021)
- Sarah and Isaac with Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 21:1821)
- Lydia and Paul (Acts 16:11-16)
- Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18)
- Mary and Martha of Bethany (Luke 10:38-42)
- Anna, Mary and the baby Jesus (Luke 2:36-38)
- The unnamed woman who wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair (Luke 7:36-50)
Men do appear in some of these windows, Costello said, but the women’s story has the greater emphasis. For example, the window dedicated to Mary Magdalene depicts her both in adoration at the feet of Jesus and also, in a larger image, as the one who first tells the male disciples that Jesus has risen from the dead. The latter action is what makes her known as the apostle to the apostles, she said.
The plan for adding these images to the church’s few remaining clear windows that surround the nave began about four years ago under then-interim rector the Rev. Jane Maynard, after congregation members had realized that the full story of their faith wasn’t seen in their church’s windows.
A committee was formed to oversee the new windows’ creation, and stained-glass designer William Frank and artisan Blake LaRue provided the technical expertise to oversee the stages from concept to installation.
In addition, a weekly Bible study class, along with a podcase episode, helped parishioners learn more about the new windows.
The blessing was done by the Rt. Rev. Melissa Skelton, former bishop provisional of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia and former archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada’s Province of British Columbia and Yukon. She was aided by some of the parish’s children as she blessed each of the windows.
Skelton also previously had served as rector of St. Paul’s in Seattle and as the diocese’s canon for congregational development and leadership
— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.