I preached at Hadwen Park Congregational Church on the first Sunday in April at Rev. Sarah Sund-Lussier’s ordination. She requested her favorite scripture, Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep.  The shepherd loses 1 out of 100, but searches until he finds the single lost lamb and rejoices when it is back in his arms, just as God rejoices when a sinner finds their way home to God’s beloved embrace.  As I preached and told the story, there above me, crafted in colorful glass, was the shepherd cradling the lost sheep.

Decades earlier, an elderly woman grasped my hand after church.  “It was as if the stained-glass windows were alive and dancing,” she exclaimed.  I was 13 years old and part of the Wakefield Players who made the Bible come alive in many churches with a musical called “It’s the Spirit” based on the book of Acts. Barefoot, wearing colorful embroidered shirts and jeans, teenagers leapt onto dusty stone window sills singing joyfully and dancing during communion.  Our director had worried there might be a *tsk-tsk* or two.  But this one octogenarian thanked me because the stained-glass story came alive.

It happened again in April at the Congregational Church in Grafton when I preached at the installation of Rev. Dr. Barbara Therese.  Her chosen text was the story of Jesus and the woman at the well.  And again, as I stood in the Chancel to tell the story by heart, behind me were Jesus and the Samaritan woman with sun streaming through colorful glass.  I was tempted to simply point to the window and say, “Behold!”  But I preached and I told the biblical story by heart.  And the Holy Spirit moved in color and light and words and story.