by Barb Walton
This is Christ Lutheran Church, Perry, OK at Christmas, isn’t it beautiful? The angel, who is 6 feet tall and has a wingspan of 4 feet 7 inches, hangs 50 feet high in the air. She watches over the congregation during Advent and Christmas.
The angel was the brainstorm of a family of lovely ladies that helped decorate the church each year. It began in the early 1990’s with the idea that the addition of an angel was needed to complete the decorations. Debbie Hooper, who, while gazing out her window at work one day, spotted an angel on the lawn, part of the Christmas decorations where she worked. It was beautiful and the perfect size! She traced the angel to make the pattern and enlisted her uncle, James Gottschalk, to make the fame.
During Thanksgiving of that year, Debbie’s family, Diane Hines, Peggy Gottschalk, and Joan Miller, got together, pulled out supplies from their various stashes and at the end of the weekend had made Christ Lutheran’s beautiful angel. In the early years, it took 10 people to put up the angel and the arch. The arch is greenery wrapped in lights and fits like a glove into the archway above the chancel. The angel herself has a pulley system that is used to gently lift her into place and was combined with a very long pole to get the arch set in place. Once there, everyone would sigh a sigh of relief and hope none of the lights went out during Advent or Christmas.
The affect is still stunning. Especially on Christmas Eve during the candlelight service…. The angel definitely adds to the celebration of Jesus birthday!
This is Christ Lutheran Church at Lent.
It is all somberness for forty days as we prepare for our Savior’s crucifixion. The crown of thorns on the top of our cross was donated by Marty and Sherry Piel. The crown of thorns was made in Israel. It and the purple cloth are a harsh reminder of what our Savior had to do to save us so that we might someday be in Heaven with Him and His Father.
After the sadness of Good Friday, and the quietness of Easter Saturday, we await our risen Lord. Oh, what a glorious Easter Morning it is as we worship and praise him…...
Christ has Risen, He has Risen indeed! Alleluia!
