prayer garden

tucked into a quiet corner of fuller theological seminary's campus is this stained glass cross.  for some reason this photo seems like an optical illusion.

inviting?

i'll let you be the judge of whether this photo feels warm and welcoming - but i felt that the faint glow coming through the stained glass window at messiah lutheran church was drawing me in.

pasadena scottish rite

i must plead ignorance here. i have almost no knowledge of freemasonry, and most of it comes from wikipedia. but this certainly is a striking building, what with the stone, the huge doorway, the egyptian figures out front, and the stained glass windows. the pasadena organization has their own website, right here.

by the way - if you haven't already visited my friend eric's blog to read his comics, you really need to do so. like right now. go. now. do so with this link. i think they are brilliant.

december theme day: circles/spheres

this stained glass window is in a small chapel at my church. i attend pasadena mennonite church which meets in the pasadena church of the brethren building. mennonite churches are usually pretty plain buildings - not lavish or adorned with traditional religious icons. i guess our church is unique in that sense, probably because it wasn't built by our congregation.

the image includes several christian symbols - the greek letters 'alpha' and 'omega' which symbolize the beginning and the end, the crucifiction cross, the bible, a palm branch which is symbolic of peace and the coming of christ, and a star of david.

anyway, here's a plug - if you are looking for a church to worship at that places a particularily strong emphasis on peace and non-violence, social justice issues, systemic and social issues, and how essential all that is to being a follower of christ, come check us out! also we're a pretty relaxed group with lots of kids, young families, and students. dress is casual.


there are 175 blogs participating in today's theme day. you can check them out below!

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this is a post office?

my wife meredith discovered that the pasadena post office is something i needed to blog about. the stained glass ceiling alone (photo above) is worth going in to check out. for those of you who have lived in pasadena for a while, or grew up around here this is probably old news, but i was blown away by the sight inside.