St. Luke “Community” UMC Heritage Windows
Laura Jean Lacy is the artist behind the windows. A Washington, D.C. native, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Art Education from Southern University. Additional studies in the art include work at the Art Student’s League, New York, NY; Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA; Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX; and North Texas State University, Denton, TX. She has served in many professional capacities related to her field; a curator, museum docent, art instructor, artist consultant, education specialist, and Director of the Cultural Heritage Center. Jean is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. She has also been honored to have her works in numerous group exhibits and one-woman shows.
The Sanctuary of the St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church serves as a teaching center for both young and old. The 53 stained glass windows designed by artist Laura Jean Lacy represent the heritage, faith, and culture in the lives of African American men, women, and children. The Sanctuary is a worship center and religious art museum which celebrates our Biblical and African American heritage. St. Luke is a church that committed to teaching the vital relationship between our African heritage and our Biblical heritage. Our windows are a powerful and challenging witness to that commitment.
The first seven windows to your above left as you face the pulpit from left to right depicts:
• Earth in chaos, a formless mass cloaked in darkness
• God made space separate the waters above from the waters below and called the space sky.
• The lands filled with seed-bearing plants and trees.
• God made the stars
• And the sun
• And the moon.
• And God created man in God’s image to be masters over all life.
The seven windows below on your left from left to right:
• Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
• The encounter with the serpent
• The hand of GOD intervenes with the man.
• Man and Serpent cursed.
• A man was pondering over the plight.
• Flaming sword guards the way to the tree of life.
• Animals remain in the garden after GOD banishes man.
Our Biblical Heritage
The seven windows to your above right from right to left:
• Abraham obeying GOD’s command of sacrificing a
• Ram instead of his son Isaac.
• As the great flood destroys the earth, Noah and his sons,
• Ham, Shem, and Japheth wait for the flood to end.
• The releasing of the raven after 40 days of rain.
• Moses was leading the people out of slavery.
• David is going about the business of the Father.
Our African American Heritage
The top back, left balcony, facing the street:
• Black soldiers were lighting the path in the night for slaves seeking freedom.
• The black woman was breaking the chains of slavery.
• The woman was quilting the architects of the culture.
• Sojourner Truth – the antislavery agitator, preacher, and lecturer.
• Mary McLeod Bethune – symbolizing education, founder of the Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, FL.
• Migrations scene to urban areas.
• Nativity scene in an urban setting.
• Continuation of the migration, “He Lives Through Us”.
• “Good News” elders leading the people into the world from the church.
Our African American Heritage
Freedom Marches – The top back, right balcony, facing the street:
• Crispus Attucks in the Boston Massacre on March 6, 1770.
• The Ethiopian Bishop is holding a Coptic Cross.
• Busing of Black Children to schools outside their neighborhood to achieve racial integration.
• “No Room at the Inn” serves as an analogy to the birth of Jesus.
• Rosa Parks, waiting to catch a bus where she will later arrest for refusing to relinquish her seat to a white man.
• Black Panthers founded by Hughey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver, Congress of Racial Equality, Student
Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. A group of young men who fought for equality.
• Malcolm X, founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), who transformed himself intellectually from a preacher of racial hatred to an advocate of interracial and international
brotherhood.
Behind Recording Booth in balcony:
A black hand clasping a white hand represents the union and connection of the Methodist Church.
Stairwell, left balcony:
• Rev. Zan W. Holmes, Jr. – Senior Pastor Emeritus
Stairwell, right balcony:
• Rev. T. B. Echols, Former Senior Pastor