Journal of a Sabbatical

May 22, 1999

windows

Today's Starting Pitcher: Tim Wakefield

Reading: Murder at Monticello by Rita Mae Brown

It's open chapel day at West Parish Garden Cemetery. Once again it's time to visit the Tiffany windows. The renovations to the chapel include handicap accessibility, water damage repair, and of course repair of the famous windows. Priscilla's nephew, Jim, is one of the driving forces behind the renovations so Priscilla organized the walking buddies to check it out.

The original cemetery was established in 1692 and expanded in 1908 with a gift from mill owner William Wood. The chapel was built in 1909 in a sort of English stone church style. The Tiffany stained glass windows date from 1909 as well. There's a pond behind the chapel that's used both to power the waterpower pipe organ and as a sort of meditation/reflection pond. The organ has not yet been renovated. Jim showed us pictures of the inside of the organ though. Pretty impressive. I hope they do get the organ renovated too. The acoustics are really nice. Jim put on a CD to show off the acoustics and set the mood.

It's a gorgeous day for a walk in the cemetery - everything is in bloom and large families of Canada geese are strolling the grounds with their fluffy yellow goslings. The sun is out and there's barely a cloud in the sky. Perfect for showing off the full effect of the windows. I met Joan-east and Rita at the entrance - a stone triumphal arch that's supposed to be one of the finest of its kind in Massachusetts - and walked down the path to the chapel to meet up with Priscilla and Harold.

Priscilla, Jim, Joan-east, Rita

We all came in through the new handicapped entrance so Harold could test out the wheelchair ramp. Harold gave it his seal of approval. Just after we came in I heard one of the guides, a woman from the historic preservation committee, listing the renovations as she gestured toward the handicapped entrance "... and we added a ramp for handicap accessibility Hi Harold ..." Her voice changed on the "Hi Harold" though she didn't pause for a second. It was like the ramp had suddenly gone from theoretical to real right before her eyes. I started to laugh. I don't think Harold heard it.

The windows depict the passage from the Gospel According to Saint Matthew that formed my sense of social responsibility and has always been special to me:

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited." - [Mat. 25:35-36]

Each window shows one of the "Corporal Works of Mercy"

• To feed the hungry
• Give drink to the thirsty
• Clothe the naked
• Shelter the homeless
• Visit the sick
• Visit the imprisoned
• Bury the dead

I photographed each window with and without flash while the walking buddies talked to Jim and Harold talked to somebody about the organ (he used to play organ before his stroke). A guy who used to be in Harold's Boy Scout troop a jillion years ago came in and we left them reminiscing while we went outside and walked.

Ladyslippers had popped up everywhere. There were so many of them that Priscilla wondered if they were still endangered in Massachusetts or we were still forbidden to pick them like we were as kids. Also all over the place was cowslip, which Priscilla called piss-a-bed. Sorry no picture of cowslip.

We covered all the trails and headed back to the chapel to rendezvous with Harold. Joan-east, Rita, and I went our separate ways, leaving Priscilla and Harold at the chapel to talk to Jim about what's next for the renovations.