I
Am The Resurrection And The Life
In
the first of two consecutive Easter windows, our Lord is
shown at the moment of His Resurrection--the crown of thorns
at His feet, an angel holding open the stone door of the
Vacant tomb at the left. Two Roman soldiers, one asleep,
the other awestruck, appear to the right. At the upper left
is an ancient resurrection symbol, the phoenix rising out
of the flames. At the upper right three distant crosses
are visible on the hill of Golgotha.
The
theme of resurrection is paralleled in the lower portion
of the window with the words "Rise, Ye Children of
Salvation" This familiar and beloved hymn (SBH 556)
was written by the fourth pastor of our congregation the
Reverend Justus Falckner, in 1697 while still a student
in Germany.
Justus
Falckner ("Falkner:" as it appears in the window,
is a misspelling) was the candidate at the first full-fledged
Lutheran ordination held in America, which took place on
November 24, 1703 in Gloria Dei Church, Wicaco (now Philadelphia).
He was ordained upon being called to be pastor of "the
Dutch Lutheran Church in New York:" i.e. the Province
of New York, which included both Manhattan and Albany. The
scene in the window, with its accurate detail of the folded
chasuble lying on the altar rail, was probably copied from
the jacket illustration of the 1946 Muhlenberg Press book,
The World of Justus Falckner, by Delber W. Clark.
This
window depicts not one but two pastors of First Lutheran
Church. Dr. Andreas Rudman, the ordaining minister here,
was Falckner's immediate Predecessor and one of the early
riverboat pastors, traveling between his Albany and New
York congregations and ministering in Dutch to the Hudson
Valley Lutherans. The window includes the depiction of a
typical river sloop, the method of travel used by both men
in their ministrations along the Hudson.
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