Near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star sheds its beams around me.
In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.
---Fanny Crosby
There is a stained-glass window here in town. It is a marvel to me, and never fails to capture my attention any time I pass. The window is all the things one would expect from stained glass --- colorful, bright, kaleidoscopic, faith-themed. For me, the window is also theologically profound. Whether this is the message intended by the artist, or the church, I don’t know; I am hoping that message, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Boy, do I behold it!
The window features a towering cross, perhaps three stories high. Typical, you might say. But around the cross --- oh, around the cross --- is a bursting rainbow, shards of color and light exploding from the crux, the crossing point, of the cross. Whenever I see it, I think of the way Jesus’ grace, light, love cascade down from his cross, showering the whole world with its unfocused mercy. Showers of blessing, indeed, on all of us mortals.
I have a feeling that the hymnist Fanny Crosby would dig this window, too. Because if I close my eyes, I can picture, in the center of the cross, the bright and morning star, shedding its beams. If she were here with me, we would park the car, and walk to the churchyard, and stand in the shadow of the cross, and bask in the prismatic light of the Morningstar.
---Leigh Anne
