The View from the Pews: a Brief Look at the Church and Worship

THE VIEW FROM THE PEWS: A BRIEF LOOK AT THE CHURCH AND WORSHIP

AT UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH, OAK PARK, ILLINOIS

by Kurt Stadtwald

Having spent much on, and maybe having fretted just as much about the bell tower’s reconstruction, it is only natural that many in the congregation might see United Lutheran’s church building as a burden—a nearly 83-year-old house of brick and mortar in need of constant care and unpredicted repairs. But, as we celebrate the disappearance of the scaffolding, the stones, the tools, and the workers, and rededicate the building and the congregation to the work of bearing witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we should also appreciate this building again as the home of our worship. These remarks aim to add to our appreciation by pointing out some of the noteworthy aspects of the building itself in its design, its stained glass, organ, and its heritage. In doing so, perhaps we can gain a sense of the building’s presence in our worship, and welcome again this place into congregation as something akin to an old friend.

From the Outside, In

This building began its existence with a remarkable celebration. The members of United Lutheran dedicated it at a 3:00 pm service on November 11, 1928. United was a new congregation then, the creation of a December 14, 1925 merger of Our Savior's, Bethlehem, and St. Paul's Lutheran Churches of Chicago.[1] Norwegian immigrants dominated the membership of all three congregations. According to the official dedication service program, A. J. Aasgaard, President of the Chicago-area synod of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church preached that afternoon. In the evening Major Chaplain Gustave Stearns,[2] pastor of Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Milwaukee delivered a “patriotic service” commemorating the tenth anniversary of the end of World War I, an event as emotionally scaring for that generation as September 11 is for ours. A week of dedication activities followed including a Friday night oratorio entitled “The Holy City” by the United choir. Dominating its bare surroundings in 1928, it is easy to understand how United members might see it as shining city of worship on Ridgeland Avenue’s hill.

The congregation also invested much in its construction. The 1928 Dedication Program lists the cost of the land; construction of the church, “parish house” (the rooms west of the sanctuary including classrooms and fellowship hall), and parsonage; and all furnishings at $321,000. A 2009 equivalent price would be in the neighborhood of $3.3 to $7.9 million.[3] Herbert A. Brand was the building’s architect and engineer, and United seems to have been one of his larger structures judging from the list of churches he and his firm designed in the area from the 20s to the 50s.[4] Fair Oaks Presbyterian in Oak Park (1927) was also of his design. The pews, reredos (wooden decorative paneling behind the altar that is no longer a part of the chancel), rail and pulpit came from a Dubuque, Iowa firm, the interior marble of the chancel floor is from Tennessee, the altar is fabricated of several kinds of Italian marble, the exterior stone is from Indiana, the slate for the roof from Vermont, and Thomas J. Gaytee Studios of Minneapolis, Minnesota, still in business, provided the stained glass windows (more below).[5]

With its single squared off 100-foot bell tower, Brand designed United as an English Gothic church—a simpler version of Gothic architecture[6] compared to the great city cathedrals of northern and central Europe with their soaring spires and curtain-like walls of stained glass. The Gothic style is a highly original Christian expression of the church building, being a small-scale version of the whole world suspended under the dome of heaven and between creation and final judgment. The medieval architects conceived it as the ideal setting for the worship of all believers, living and in the presence of the Lord, across the church year, itself a rehearsal of the whole length of salvation history.[7] The building itself, therefore, is both a carefully laid out setting for worship and a teaching device.

Brand simplified the gothic features of the exterior even more according to the tastes of the late 20s Art Deco, as one can see best in the simple vertical rectangular shapes of the stocky Ridgeland entrance. Brand’s simplified gothic style is even clearer to all sitting in the sanctuary. The piers are simple squares, the windows are relatively small, and there are no niches or pedestals for statues. The painting “Come unto Me” that hangs to the right of the chancel originally hung in Our Savior’s Church, and Olaf Brauer, a Cornell University professor of art, painted it.[8] Although not a fundamental of the Lutheran tradition, a simplified worship space is often a hallmark of Protestantism, serving to eliminate distractions and to direct the worshiper’s attention to the essentials of worship. For example, the clean lines of the piers naturally lift the eyes upward to windows and the beams of the ceiling, and the succession of arches they form directs eyes forward to the pulpit—the source of the Word, the altar—the site of communion, and cross—the place of salvation in Christ. All of these are natural focus points in worship.

The Windows Speak

Stained-glass windows are divine writings that spread the clarity of the true sun, who is God, through the church, that is to say, through the heart of the faithful, bringing them true enlightenment.[9]

Bishop William Durand de Mende (1230-1296)

Medieval architects, in a sense, created gothic style in order to expand the use of stained glass. It is unthinkable to imagine a cathedral without these sheets of colored glass. But stained glass is much more than decoration or something pleasant to look at before and after the service. In an age when few lay men and women could read, stained glass windows became everyone’s picture Bible. United’s stained glass shows this continuing function of the church building as teaching device. Here follows a list of the windows and their subjects:[10]

South Transept

Moses Striking the Rock

The Baptism of Christ

The Passage of the Red Sea

First Nave Window on the South Side

The Birth of Christ

The Adoration of the Three Wise Men

Second Nave Window

The Flight into Egypt

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

Third Nave Window

The Marriage at Cana

The Encounter with Nicodemus

Fourth Nave Window

The Encounter with the Woman of Samaria

The Calling of Matthew

Fifth Nave Window

Christ Stilling the Tempest

Jesus the Good Shepherd

North Transept Window

Melchizedek Meeting Abraham

The Last Supper

The Manna Falling from Heaven

First Nave Window on the North Side

The Resurrection of Christ

The Ascension of Christ

Second Nave Window

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

The Crucifixion

Third Nave Window

Jesus and Mary Magdalene

Christ Blessing Little Children

Fourth Nave Window

The Transfiguration

Jesus in the Home of Mary and Martha

Fifth Nave Window

Raising the Daughter of Jairus

The Sermon on the Mount

Rear Gallery Window

The Three High Priests:

Melchizedek

Christ

Aaron

The list shows that the windows relate the life and meaning of Jesus Christ—not merely as a set of the highlights of his time on earth, but as the divine high priest (intercessor, baptizer, and himself the living bread) who stands at the center of the Word. He is the one prefigured in and prophesied by the Old Testament and revealed as Messiah by the New Testament. Take for example the Gallery window depicting Jesus between Melchizedek and Aaron, which might strike some as an odd trio. Genesis 14:18-20 recounts Melchizedek as “King of Salem” and “priest of God Most High” who brought out to Abraham bread and wine (the elements of Communion) and blessed him. Psalms 110:4 prophesied a coming “priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Aaron was Moses’ elder brother and God-appointed assistant, a man of eloquence and a Levite—the clan from which the Hebrew priesthood stemmed (Exodus 4:10-17). Among the most important priestly duties was the annual atonement for sin that Aaron first performed and is described in Leviticus 16. Yet Jesus has surpassed the greatness of Aaron and Melchizedek. As the writer of Hebrews put it:

“The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘Thou art a priest forever [from Psalms 110].”’ This makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; but he [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently because he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:21-5, see also Hebrews 6:19-20).

Hence, a lesson in a window about Christ as the great high priest.

United’s stained glass is also traditional in a couple of other ways. First, it uses a number of traditional devices to identify its subjects. Artists have depicted figures from the Bible and the saints with certain obvious symbols to act as badges for who they are. For example, Mary is traditionally depicted in blue, Melchizedek holding bread and wine, Aaron wearing the robes of a Hebrew priest including a twelve-jewel breastplate (one jewel for each of the twelve tribes) and holding a rod, Jesus as a shepherd, Peter holds two keys, Paul a book or a sword, and so on.[11] Knowing these symbols unlocks the meaning of the windows. Second, United’s stained glass, called antique glass,[12] was made in the manner of medieval glass. It was fired and colored with metals: Gold and selenium for reds, cobalt and copper for blues, cadmium, sulfur and lead for yellows, nickel for violet, iron for greens and browns, and so on.[13] The glass was also hand blown and spun into tube-like balloons, then opened and flattened, cut, mounted in H-shaped lead channels called cames, mounted in metal frames, and detailed with black paint.[14]

How Sweet the Sounds

…Next to the word of God, music deserves the highest praise…. The Holy Spirit himself honors music as the instrument for his proper work when in his Holy Scriptures he asserts that through music his gifts were instilled in the prophets…. After all, the gift of language combined with the gift of song was only given to us to let us know that we should praise God with both word and music, namely, by proclaiming the Word of God through music and by providing sweet melodies with words.[15]

Martin Luther

Luther had a high regard for music. He was himself a singer, musician, and hymn writer, and, unlike some other Protestant reformers, actively encouraged the use of music of all kinds in worship—especially congregational singing of contemporary hymns. Hymn singing is a way to stress that worship is participation, not a clerically led activity that most Christians just watch. At United Lutheran, the use of instrumental music and singing in worship stems from its very beginning through various choirs and ensembles. Today the Jubilate Choir, soloists, instrumental accompanists, and the three-octave bell ensemble formed in 1986 carry on the ministry of music under the direction of Minister of Music Yollanda Bornhoff.

The most visible, and audible, instrument of United’s musical tradition is its organ. The Page Organ Company of Lima, Ohio, known for its church and theater organs, built United’s original instrument which played until the 1970s.[16] The present organ dates from 1977 when Gruber Pipe Organ, Inc. rebuilt and upgraded it. It is not so much an instrument for solo performance as it is to accompany soloists and to support congregational singing. A small plaque on the console commemorates the service of Dr. Carl Waldschmidt, Minister of Music 1978-1990, who played at the organ’s rededication concert in October 1978.

What one sitting in the pews does not see is that the organ has three manuals (keyboards to allow the organist to play different voices or change between them quickly), it has 33 ranks (sets of pipes having the same tone quality, one pipe for each note on the keyboard or pedalboard), and the organ “speaks” with well over 1000 pipes—the original had 1630. The pipes are also not visible, but housed in two chambers—one in the wall that faces the congregation of the south transept, and another larger one in the south wall of the chancel above and behind the pulpit. The organ console also sounds a set of 21 tubular cathedral chimes and three bells in the tower. Those tower bells are from Our Savior’s Lutheran, one of the congregations that merged to form United Lutheran.[17]

However Grand or Modest…

… this, or any religious structure is not the church. Today United Lutheran is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church America, and one of “nearly 10,500 congregations across the U. S. and Caribbean,” church home to 4.8 million members according to the ELCA website.[18] Jon M. Dumpys is United’s eighth senior pastor following the ministries of Mark Reshan, Robert Sorenson, Edward Nervig, Wayne Tellekson, Elmer Hjortland, Edwin Hegge, and Martin Anderson. The list of pastoral succession in itself says nothing about what has changed and what has remained the same about the congregation. What has clearly changed is that United has ceased to be the spiritual and social focus of predominantly Norwegian immigrants, their children, and grandchildren. United’s last regular Norwegian-language service was in 1943.[19] Since at least the 1970s “the vitality of United Lutheran Church…is inextricably bound to our parish community, Oak Park,” in the words of a pamphlet produced for United’s fiftieth anniversary. [20] In other words, United has been looking outward to the spiritual and material needs of its home village. What has also changed is the size of the congregation which in 1977 was 800 strong and took in 50 new members that year. Yet the downward trend, common across many American congregations, need not be seen as United’s unalterable destiny. In the 1980s United’s membership jumped: “(731 baptized as of mid-May 1988 and 582 confirmed) includes single adults, both young and old; teenagers who’'ve joined on their own; one-parent as well as the more traditional nuclear families; and members of the working poor along with the middle and upper-middle classes.”[21]

What has not changed over the past eighty years is the commission to worship and serve God and neighbors, as He has given us light and grace to do. This sense of mission has been expressed in many ways. The current mission statement simply states that “United Lutheran congregation strives to return God's love by worshipping God in Christ, helping the needy and fostering religious faith in children, youth and adults.” In 1975 it was aptly put this way:

Our goal should be to reach even more people. We have a lot to offer: the Gospel of Jesus Christ; it is a proclamation enabling all…to achieve salvation by believing what God has done through His Son. If we really feel that United is an effective instrument of Jesus Christ, we will encourage others to receive these benefits, and United will remain strong.

…United's survival as an institution is important, but not our supreme concern. What really matters is the extension of God's Kingdom, and it is of lesser consequence whether or not there is an institution called United Lutheran Church in 50 years.[22]

Endnotes

[1]According to the official Dedication Program, “The United Evangelical Lutheran Church is the result of two mergers. The first in 1919 when St. Paul's and St. John's Churches united, and the second in 1925 when Our Savior's, Bethlehem and St. Paul's Lutheran Churches merged. This represents almost 70 years of Church work.” United held its first service on January 3, 1926. United Evangelical Lutheran Congregation, Dedication Program (no publisher, ca. November 11, 1928), 23-4.

[2]Dedication Program, 9 and 10. According to the Milwaukee County Historical Society, Stearns was a decorated veteran who also received a citation from the President of the postwar German republic for his ministry to German POWs. “Gustave Stearns Collection” (accessed August 1, 2011).

[3]Dedication Program, 15. The estimates came from a calculator created by Lawrence H. Officer and Samuel H. Williamson, “Measuring Worth: Seven Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount - 1774 to Present” (accessed July 31, 2011).

[4]Thanks to Frank Lipo, Executive Director of The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest for his survey of the archives of the Chicago Tribune that revealed the variety of churches Brand designed in the Chicagoland area.

[5]Dedication Program, 13-5 and 26.

[6]The Italian art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), a near contemporary of Martin Luther, applied the term gothic to this style of architecture in order to highlight its non-classical Roman origins. He was definitely not being complimentary, but critical of its perceived coarseness and lack of Roman sophistication. The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, “Gothic Art” (accessed July 19, 2011), and Paul Frankl, Gothic Architecture, revised edition by Paul Crossley (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 263.