At Christ First in Clarkson, our story in stained glass depicts the story of God’s working through the Hebrew people, from creation to the messages of the prophets, along the lectern side of the nave (sanctuary) – back to front, right to left as Hebrew is read. On the pulpit side of the nave (and the narthex ) are scenes from the life of Jesus of Nazareth, from birth to crucifixion, resurrection and ascension - left to right as the Greek language of the New Testament is read. The final chapter in our story is told in the Revelation windows over the main doors of the church, as we depart. As we enter the church and ascend the stairs, we are surrounded by three more windows representing hymns from the book of Psalms.
The stained glass windows were installed during the ministry of Rev. Bob Johnstone when he served the Christ Church community as Senior Minister (1984-2001), collaborating with Prof. Ted Lutz, a teacher of Hebrew Bible at the University of Toronto, in the design, content, and presentation of the windows. Russell Goodman was the artist for all the Clarkson campus windows except the Psalms windows, which were designed by Russell’s son, Christopher. Russell received a Governor-General’s award for the Revelation windows. He had previously been awarded the Order of Canada for stained glass windows in the Parliament buildings in Ottawa.
A hard-covered coffee table book about our windows was published in 2001: The Story of the Bible in Stained Glass. Copies of this book can be found in the Earl B. Eddy library.