On April 28, 2014 a devastating tornado destroyed part of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, in Tupelo, Mississippi.  Pearl River Glass Studio made this window to commemorate this momentous event in the life of the church.

My first impression when visiting Tupelo was the tremendous damage to the trees, especially the tall pine trees.  Psalm 29 from the Old Testament was paraphrased and used in the window to communicate the biblical reference “The voice of the lord thunders, is upon the waters, breaks the cedar trees, speaks of His Glory”

Psalm 29 was sung at the festival of lights on the day that of the Pentecost when the tongues of flames descended on the disciples imbuing them with the Holy Spirit.

There are red shapes in the window that approximate the wounds that Christ received on the cross, for his hands and feet, the lance in his side, and the crown of thorns.  Tree branches swirl in the mighty wind and the window culminates in a vortex in the center.  The plant fronds are a stylized version of pine tree boughs but are a metaphor for the cedars of Lebanon used to build the Solomon temple and the palms of Palm Sunday.

A special embossing technique was used to add more interest in detail in the background of the window.