The Angel of St. Andrew's

A small group of parishioners had been meeting to do crafts. A course for Stained Glass window making started at Theale Green   Community School in January 2000 and Martin and I decided to join. After an initial practice piece we were encouraged to design a stained glass window which we could then make from scratch. Martin suggested that we made an image of an angel and Jenny, my wife, adapted our initial design. We had no idea whether we could do it, but we were enthused by the idea and were determined to give it a go….nothing ventured!
We followed quite a steep learning curve, discovering much through our mistakes and, with some guidance from the tutors, found that the whole thing seemed to take on a life of its own. The concentration level required had surprised us and yet ideas, including making the angel's breastplate into a St. Andrew's cross, flowed, apparently out of the blue.
We found the end result pleasing and were delighted when Ken Dance, a local carpenter, agreed to make a frame for it so that it could be freestanding. Martin and I decided to dedicate the window in memory of our late fathers, Donald Parsons and Ronald Ellis. We felt that the right time for the window's dedication and 'unveiling' would be at the Pentecost 2000  Holy Communion Service.
To us the angel represents the real sense of God's presence   experienced by so many in St. Andrew's, particularly in recent years. A few independently have heard, fleetingly, what they have described as extraordinarily beautiful singing from many voices, particularly in 1999 just after the re-establishment of St. Andrew's as a House of Prayer, restoring the ministry of Bradfield Abbey, founded here in the late 7^th Century.

                                    SOME HIDDEN MEANINGS IN THE WINDOW

1.    WATER: The Holy Spirit has been described as The Fountain of Life or a Spring of  Living Water. Jesus said 'He who believes in me, out of his inmost being will flow     rivers of living water.'
2.    EARTH: As the river of life flows from the throne of God (to use biblical imagery) it not only causes the desert to bloom but the Tree of Life grows on its banks bearing fruit each month all year round,  the leaves of the trees are for the 'healing of the nations'. And so the Holy Spirit produces fruitfulness and healing.
3.    FIRE: At that Pentecost festival 2000 years ago when the Holy Spirit came upon those 120 who were gathered together in Jerusalem to pray, tongues of fire appeared and rested on each of them. Jesus had said that he would baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire. It represented, amongst other things, the fire of love toward God; a purifying fire which purges darkness within.
4.     AIR: Accompanying the tongues of fire there was a sound of a mighty rushing wind symbolic of the dynamic power of God. The gentle, refreshing 'breeze of the Holy Spirit',  the 'breath of God' which brought life into Adam, making a living being  out of the dust of the earth.