[Letter from Peter Stewart to Gabriel Loire, September 12, 1975] Page: 3 of 6
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A. THEME OF THE STAINED GLASS CEILING - "THE GLORY OF GOD
This "Glory Window" celebrates God the father, the creator.
It speaks only of God, but the God of all men including the Allah of the
Muslim and the Great Spirit of the Indian.
It is the glory of the transcendent Father above us (and from the christian
viewpoint) seen by the power of the spirit within us, from the Kingdom of
the Son around us. With the people below it becomes communion and cele-
bration, word - silence - understanding.
Our praises enable us to see His glory - by our praises we can
respond to His glory.
Our thanksgiving opens us to the constant blessing and
glory of His presence.
God's glory is the end of our aspirations, the face of God.
B. THE EXPERIENCE
The stained glass is the final experience of a visitor to Thanks-Giving
Square. Arriving over the bridge into the Chapel under the symbol of
the spirit, you glimpse the beginning of the stained glass colors 20 feet
above your head before going under the choir loft. Then you turn sharply
to the left toward the altar and you see the stained glass spiraling upward
60 feet over your head.
A person looks up briefly. With head up he would strain to look to the
summit and would look back up from time to time. Looking straight ahead
you would see the glow of light created above the altar and on the walls.
You would feel the unity of heaven and earth under the glory of God.
This is the first place in Thanks-Giving Square that you come to a stopping
point, where you come to a final rest, the end of all aspirations and move-
ment. Here the horizontal axis of man turns into the vertical axis of God,
the infinite eternal and perfect. This becomes the center of the world
under the eye of God.
We are still, but the spiral is moving - picking itself up - curving inward
and upward from the earthly to the heavenly axis, spiraling outward to
eternity.9-16-75
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Stewart, Peter. [Letter from Peter Stewart to Gabriel Loire, September 12, 1975], letter, September 12, 1975; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1196716/m1/3/: accessed June 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Thanks-Giving Foundation.