Community support leads to refurbishing of Havre's First Lutheran Church

Thanks to the good will of the community through donations large and small, Havre's First Lutheran Church refurbished its stained glass windows for the first time since 1950.

"They haven't been replaced, they've just been refurbished and this protective coating added. Because of age and the settling of the building over time, they were in danger of, I think, panels falling out, something about the frame, just weathering and becoming weaker," Pastor Megan Hoewisch said.

"We wanted to preserve the beauty of the stained glass windows. Because of generous donations made in memory of lost loved ones, we had enough to go forward with the project. The summer was the perfect time to do it," she added.

Hoewisch said the repairs only took about two weeks. To her knowledge, the refurbishing is the first time the windows have been worked on since they first were put in.

"The windows are looking gorgeous. The dirt of many, many years has been washed off and more light is pouring into the building now. The frames around the windows used to be peeling paint and now they're glossy and new. They look better on the outside and on the inside," Hoewisch said.

The refurbishing work, done over the summer, helped preserve a scene from the Gospel of John which has been a part of the church for many years.

"The windows in the nave, which is the body of the church, many of those are grapevines that wrap around the window with bunches of grapes and leaves. That's, you know, from the Gospel of John, of abide in me. Jesus says we're supposed to be part of the vine that is the body of Christ. In the body of the sanctuary, we've got this reminder that we are part of the vine, we are bunches of grapes within this larger hole," Hoewisch said

"Then the cross in the front of the church is also filled with bunches of grapes, which is another reference to Communion and the wine that we drink at Communion but there's also a serpent at the bottom of the cross, reminding us of what the cross is there to triumph over the powers of sin and death," she added.

Hoewisch said there are nails, a hammer and a whip on the edges on the two sides of the horizontal beam to represent the crucifixion but the body of Christ is not on the cross because Christ is no longer on the cross.

She said Christ not being on the cross represents that Good Friday, when Jesus was on the cross, was not the end of the story as the church believes Christ was raised from the dead.

"I think for us the cross that's the stained glass window in the front of the church, it's a sign of hope and God's triumph over all of the forces of evil," Hoewisch said.

Hoewisch said she thinks the congregation is thrilled with the work, knowing there were so many gifts given in memory of loved ones that have made this project possible.

"It's kind of like the light from many, many souls is shining down on us," Hoewisch said. "I think that that sort of community-led work is really important, because, you know, it's not just one person's donation that made this possible, even though we are grateful for several larger donations that helped us get here. Really, it's the memories of many, many loved ones that have contributed to it."

The church website says in-person and virtual worship through Facebook is at 9:30 Sunday mornings and all are welcome. The site says radio broadcasts of services are on station KOJM 610 AM starting at 11 a.m.