Trinity Lutheran Church was once located
in a section of Lowell known as “Swede Village”. Organized in 1882, the
church served the Swedish immigrants who lived in that neighborhood. Over
the years, as the membership moved away from the Lowell neighborhood into
the suburbs, the church saw the opportunity for mission in the Chelmsford
area.
As we followed our members to Chelmsford,
we discovered new resources and opportunities for witness and growth. The
building of a new church gave us the occasion to ask ourselves what it
is that we believe, and to use that understanding as the basis for planning
our building.
From the time of Martin Luther, the Lutheran
church has placed a strong emphasis on education. Lifelong learning is
encouraged, and numerous opportunities for growing in faith are offered
for both children and adults: Sunday church school, confirmation classes,
vacation church school, adult forums, music ministries, and small group
studies.
The hallmark of Lutheran faith is that humans
become reconciled to their creator through faith in the grace of God shown
to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our worship,
our education, and our devotional lives are centered around this central
teaching. The written symbols of the faith, such as creeds and confessions,
and the visual symbols, such as the cross, the baptismal font, and the
altar, all bear witness to the God who comes to us in Christ, invites us
into fellowship with God and with one another, and molds us through the
Spirit into a new community of faith.
As we sat down to determine how to put into form what we believe, we saw the altar (symbolic of the Word of God) and the pulpit (symbolic of the sacramental presence of God) as being means of God’s grace or ways in which Christ comes to men (it might even be said that these are man’s most effective ways of coming to God). Thus we have placed the altar and pulpit in positions where they "point to" or "lead up to" the cross.
Martin Luther said that the church is where the Word of God is preached in its truth and purity and where the Sacraments are administered accordingly. And so we have tried to be completely Lutheran in our expression of what the church is.
Another manner of looking at the position of altar and pulpit is that
in such positioning we tried to incorporate the best parts of two traditions;
namely, that the pulpit should be central (as in most Reformed congregation)
because it represents God speaking to us, and that the altar should be
central (the liturgical tradition) because it speaks of the actual presence
of God.
THE CROSS
The cross is probably the most unusual part of the entire church. Why were we so unconventional? The cross is a part of the chancel furnishing of the church, and as such had to be designed to fit in with the building in which it is to be housed. A traditional cross of two members would be lost in the dominant verticals of the redwood and the horizontals of the stained glass, and we didn’t want the cross to be lost, because it is the most important symbol in our worship. Again, we looked at what we believe
We
believe that the cross is a living thing; that our faith in the cross of
Christ must be growing; it must never be static. We believe that the cross
of Christ is a tree of life for all people of faith. We believe that the
cross is not and never will be easy to see amid the confusion and distractions
of the world; it is always there, but it is not always visible. We believe
that the cross is never viewed in exactly the same way by any two people;
thus our cross has a second plane and a third dimension, and does not look
the same from any two seats in the nave. We believe that the cross must
be central in Christian worship and faith; this is why it dominates our
chancel and is made of precious and expensive metals: bronze and silver.
We believe that the cross, far from being detached from the soil on which
we walk, is grounded in the soil of the church: that it springs forth as
a solid, immovable expression of God’s hand reaching down and touching
the soil on which we walk and the world in which we live.
Our cross expresses to us the length and
breadth and depth of our faith. As early as Genesis 3 the “tree of life”
is the symbol used for everlasting life. Christ spoke of himself as the
“vine” to which all believers are attached as “branches”—drawing their
very life from him. And the book of Revelation in the New Testament gives
us a vision of the New Jerusalem, where the tree of life provides healing
to the nations. The early Christian church often represented the cross
of Christ as a growing, leafing tree, providing salvation to all of creation.
THE FLOWER STAND AND THE CANDELABRA
Our
cross expresses to us the length and breadth and depth of our faith. As
early as Genesis 3 the “tree of life” is the symbol used for everlasting
life. Christ spoke of himself as the “vine” to which all believers are
attached as “branches”—drawing their very life from him. And the book of
Revelation in the New Testament gives us a vision of the New Jerusalem,
where the tree of life provides healing to the nations. The early Christian
church often represented the cross of Christ as a growing, leafing tree,
providing salvation to all of creation.
The candelabra, in like manner, carry out the idea of life. More specifically,
they speak of the light of Christ that gives meaning to life.
THE BAPTISMAL FONT
It has been said that our baptismal font is so near the entrance that someone who didn’t know where he or she was going might run into it. This is precisely the idea. The font is placed near the entrance so that everyone who enters might be reminded that this is the way one enters the Christian life: through Holy Baptism. Baptisms are conducted during the service of worship so that the congregation will have the opportunity of being sponsors or godparents for the child. We are reminded that baptism is not an individual event; we are baptized into the Body of Christ, the whole Christian church.
The font, as well as the pulpit and altar, are made of Chelmsford granite
to symbolize an offering of the surrounding environment to our Lord.
THE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS
Our windows, imported from Germany and France, make us aware of our connections to the world-wide church of Christ. Those near the baptismal font, illuminated during the morning hours, bear the colors of the morning sky, reminding us that our Christian life begins in baptism. The side windows are brilliant blues, speaking of God’s warmth and strength, which follow us through our days. The chancel windows, illuminated in the evening, are deep reds, reminding us of God’s loving action toward us in the cross of Christ. As we worship, we are surrounded by signs of God’s presence, new every morning, different each day.
Revised 11-Aug-2000
Juliet Bongfeldt