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The south bank of the Thames by London's Blackfriars Bridge is a modest microcosm of the giant modern city. The tiny parish of Christ Church found there seeks to explore and express the dignity and potential of human life in the face of rapid change. Such change can excite some and unnerve others. The Christian faith has a bold contribution in time of crisis to our pursuit of the opportunities that arise and to our diverting of the dangers -though let no-one suggest that interpreting and applying that contribution is easy, or that it is a similar experience for everyone. Windows in stained glass can be striking, permanent symbols of the need and endeavour to interpret faith in constant states of change. To that need and endeavour Christ Church is committed. To record the intention, windows were installed in 1959 and 1984/5. They looked out, at that time and now, upon change which reflected both danger and opportunity in our locality. The 1959 windows take us back to local life in the years since Christ Church was founded in 1670 [upper portions] and illustrate the activities of the day [lower portions]. The apprentice artist who worked on these designs left his name, K G Bunton, and telephone number in the windows for the sharp-eyed to spot. The 1984/5 windows portray the changes of 25 years and indicate our task of interpreting a lively faith into the current and future social, economic and political ways of trying to be human in our day. The artist of this series, John Lawson, was highly sensitive to the interpretation and symbolism the sponsors were seeking. The parish origins are delightfully explained in word and symbol in the eye-level windows of the screened-off bay. The first church was built on riverside mud; and duly sank 30 years later. The second church of 1730 was a mighty edifice for worship and was sometimes filled by residents of the close-packed parish [17,000 people in 45 acres in 1852, for example]. It burnt to the ground in the war. A cross of concrete in the grass at the rear now marks where its last remnant fell in flames from the furore. The event was an example of both danger and opportunity, a crisis through which faith challenged people of that time to pass with courage and imaginative rebuilding.
The Trustees of John Marshall's generous and imaginative Will met the challenge. The new Christ Church rose in 1958/9 to provide facilities and ideas with which to explore faith in God among the evolving patterns of enterprise that emerged from war and economic revolution. Residents of the parish then numbered only 2,000, but the employed population present on week-days had risen rapidly past the old residential level of 17,000. It was clear to some, the ones who won the day, that the worship of the parish now had opportunity to be interwoven intimately with work. That is what has been attempted since. Worship is integral to worth; worth finds a particular expression in work and wealth -two elements of a socially just and politically democratic society. Worship informs work and work can interpret worship.
The windows raise questions about the place of faith in everyday life. We invite readers to visit Christ Church; to ponder the symbolism of the windows and to ask about the activities of men and women who associate together. We explore the relevance of faith to both residential and working life in the specific ways they emerge locally.
A booklet about the windows is available from the church.
Please send £2 to:
Christ Church, 27 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NY