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THE VIEW FROM THE PEWS: A BRIEF LOOK AT THE CHURCH AND WORSHIP
AT UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH, OAK PARK, ILLINOIS
by Kurt Stadtwald
Having spent much on, and maybe having fretted just as much about the bell tower’s
reconstruction, it is only natural that many in the congregation might see United Lutheran’s
church building as a burden—a nearly 83-year-old house of brick and mortar in need of constant
care and unpredicted repairs. But, as we celebrate the disappearance of the scaffolding, the
stones, the tools, and the workers, and rededicate the building and the congregation to the work
of bearing witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we should also appreciate this building again as
the home of our worship. These remarks aim to add to our appreciation by pointing out some of
the noteworthy aspects of the building itself in its design, its stained glass, organ, and its
heritage. In doing so, perhaps we can gain a sense of the building’s presence in our worship, and
welcome again this place into congregation as something akin to an old friend.
From the Outside, In
This building began its existence with a remarkable celebration. The members of United
Lutheran dedicated it at a 3:00 pm service on November 11, 1928. United was a new
congregation then, the creation of a December 14, 1925 merger of Our Savior's, Bethlehem, and
St. Paul's Lutheran Churches of Chicago.1 Norwegian immigrants dominated the membership of
all three congregations. According to the official dedication service program, A. J. Aasgaard,
President of the Chicago-area synod of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church preached that
afternoon. In the evening Major Chaplain Gustave Stearns,2 pastor of Evangelical Lutheran
Church of the Ascension in Milwaukee delivered a “patriotic service” commemorating the tenth
anniversary of the end of World War I, an event as emotionally scaring for that generation as
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September 11 is for ours. A week of dedication activities followed including a Friday night
oratorio entitled “The Holy City” by the United choir. Dominating its bare surroundings in
1928, it is easy to understand how United members might see it as shining city of worship on
Ridgeland Avenue’s hill.
The congregation also invested much in its construction. The 1928 Dedication Program
lists the cost of the land; construction of the church, “parish house” (the rooms west of the
sanctuary including classrooms and fellowship hall), and parsonage; and all furnishings at
$321,000. A 2009 equivalent price would be in the neighborhood of $3.3 to $7.9 million.3
Herbert A. Brand was the building’s architect and engineer, and United seems to have been one
of his larger structures judging from the list of churches he and his firm designed in the area from
the 20s to the 50s.4 Fair Oaks Presbyterian in Oak Park (1927) was also of his design. The
pews, reredos (wooden decorative paneling behind the altar that is no longer a part of the
chancel), rail and pulpit came from a Dubuque, Iowa firm, the interior marble of the chancel
floor is from Tennessee, the altar is fabricated of several kinds of Italian marble, the exterior
stone is from Indiana, the slate for the roof from Vermont, and Thomas J. Gaytee Studios of
Minneapolis, Minnesota, still in business, provided the stained glass windows (more below).5
With its single squared off 100-foot bell tower, Brand designed United as an English
Gothic church—a simpler version of Gothic architecture6 compared to the great city cathedrals
of northern and central Europe with their soaring spires and curtain-like walls of stained glass.
The Gothic style is a highly original Christian expression of the church building, being a smallscale version of the whole world suspended under the dome of heaven and between creation and
final judgment. The medieval architects conceived it as the ideal setting for the worship of all
believers, living and in the presence of the Lord, across the church year, itself a rehearsal of the
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whole length of salvation history.7 The building itself, therefore, is both a carefully laid out
setting for worship and a teaching device.
Brand simplified the gothic features of the exterior even more according to the tastes of
the late 20s Art Deco, as one can see best in the simple vertical rectangular shapes of the stocky
Ridgeland entrance. Brand’s simplified gothic style is even clearer to all sitting in the sanctuary.
The piers are simple squares, the windows are relatively small, and there are no niches or
pedestals for statues. The painting “Come unto Me” that hangs to the right of the chancel
originally hung in Our Savior’s Church, and Olaf Brauer, a Cornell University professor of art,
painted it.8 Although not a fundamental of the Lutheran tradition, a simplified worship space is
often a hallmark of Protestantism, serving to eliminate distractions and to direct the worshiper’s
attention to the essentials of worship. For example, the clean lines of the piers naturally lift the
eyes upward to windows and the beams of the ceiling, and the succession of arches they form
directs eyes forward to the pulpit—the source of the Word, the altar—the site of communion,
and cross—the place of salvation in Christ. All of these are natural focus points in worship.
The Windows Speak
Stained-glass windows are divine writings that spread the clarity of the true sun,
who is God, through the church, that is to say, through the heart of the faithful,
bringing them true enlightenment.9
Bishop William Durand de Mende (1230-1296)
Medieval architects, in a sense, created gothic style in order to expand the use of stained
glass. It is unthinkable to imagine a cathedral without these sheets of colored glass. But stained
glass is much more than decoration or something pleasant to look at before and after the service.
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In an age when few lay men and women could read, stained glass windows became everyone’s
picture Bible. United’s stained glass shows this continuing function of the church building as
teaching device. Here follows a list of the windows and their subjects:10
South Transept
Moses Striking the Rock
The Baptism of Christ
The Passage of the Red Sea
North Transept Window
Melchizedek Meeting Abraham
The Last Supper
The Manna Falling from Heaven
First Nave Window on the South Side
The Birth of Christ
The Adoration of the Three Wise Men
First Nave Window on the North Side
The Resurrection of Christ
The Ascension of Christ
Second Nave Window
The Flight into Egypt
The Boy Jesus in the Temple
Second Nave Window
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
The Crucifixion
Third Nave Window
The Marriage at Cana
The Encounter with Nicodemus
Third Nave Window
Jesus and Mary Magdalene
Christ Blessing Little Children
Fourth Nave Window
The Encounter with the Woman of Samaria
The Calling of Matthew
Fifth Nave Window
Christ Stilling the Tempest
Jesus the Good Shepherd
Fourth Nave Window
The Transfiguration
Jesus in the Home of Mary and Martha
Fifth Nave Window
Raising the Daughter of Jairus
The Sermon on the Mount
Rear Gallery Window
The Three High Priests:
Melchizedek
Christ
Aaron
The list shows that the windows relate the life and meaning of Jesus Christ—not merely as a set
of the highlights of his time on earth, but as the divine high priest (intercessor, baptizer, and
himself the living bread) who stands at the center of the Word. He is the one prefigured in and
prophesied by the Old Testament and revealed as Messiah by the New Testament. Take for
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example the Gallery window depicting Jesus between Melchizedek and Aaron, which might
strike some as an odd trio. Genesis 14:18-20 recounts Melchizedek as “King of Salem” and
“priest of God Most High” who brought out to Abraham bread and wine (the elements of
Communion) and blessed him. Psalms 110:4 prophesied a coming “priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek.” Aaron was Moses’ elder brother and God-appointed assistant, a man of
eloquence and a Levite—the clan from which the Hebrew priesthood stemmed (Exodus 4:1017). Among the most important priestly duties was the annual atonement for sin that Aaron first
performed and is described in Leviticus 16. Yet Jesus has surpassed the greatness of Aaron and
Melchizedek. As the writer of Hebrews put it:
“The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘Thou art a priest forever
[from Psalms 110].”’ This makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant. The
former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from
continuing in office; but he [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently because he is
able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always
lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:21-5, see also Hebrews 6:19-20).
Hence, a lesson in a window about Christ as the great high priest.
United’s stained glass is also traditional in a couple of other ways. First, it uses a number
of traditional devices to identify its subjects. Artists have depicted figures from the Bible and the
saints with certain obvious symbols to act as badges for who they are. For example, Mary is
traditionally depicted in blue, Melchizedek holding bread and wine, Aaron wearing the robes of a
Hebrew priest including a twelve-jewel breastplate (one jewel for each of the twelve tribes) and
holding a rod, Jesus as a shepherd, Peter holds two keys, Paul a book or a sword, and so on.11
Knowing these symbols unlocks the meaning of the windows. Second, United’s stained glass,
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called antique glass,12 was made in the manner of medieval glass. It was fired and colored with
metals: Gold and selenium for reds, cobalt and copper for blues, cadmium, sulfur and lead for
yellows, nickel for violet, iron for greens and browns, and so on.13 The glass was also hand
blown and spun into tube-like balloons, then opened and flattened, cut, mounted in H-shaped
lead channels called cames, mounted in metal frames, and detailed with black paint.14
How Sweet the Sounds
…Next to the word of God, music deserves the highest praise…. The Holy Spirit
himself honors music as the instrument for his proper work when in his Holy
Scriptures he asserts that through music his gifts were instilled in the prophets….
After all, the gift of language combined with the gift of song was only given to us
to let us know that we should praise God with both word and music, namely, by
proclaiming the Word of God through music and by providing sweet melodies
with words.15
Martin Luther
Luther had a high regard for music. He was himself a singer, musician, and hymn writer,
and, unlike some other Protestant reformers, actively encouraged the use of music of all kinds in
worship—especially congregational singing of contemporary hymns. Hymn singing is a way to
stress that worship is participation, not a clerically led activity that most Christians just watch.
At United Lutheran, the use of instrumental music and singing in worship stems from its very
beginning through various choirs and ensembles. Today the Jubilate Choir, soloists,
instrumental accompanists, and the three-octave bell ensemble formed in 1986 carry on the
ministry of music under the direction of Minister of Music Yollanda Bornhoff.
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The most visible, and audible, instrument of United’s musical tradition is its organ. The
Page Organ Company of Lima, Ohio, known for its church and theater organs, built United’s
original instrument which played until the 1970s.16 The present organ dates from 1977 when
Gruber Pipe Organ, Inc. rebuilt and upgraded it. It is not so much an instrument for solo
performance as it is to accompany soloists and to support congregational singing. A small
plaque on the console commemorates the service of Dr. Carl Waldschmidt, Minister of Music
1978-1990, who played at the organ’s rededication concert in October 1978.
What one sitting in the pews does not see is that the organ has three manuals (keyboards
to allow the organist to play different voices or change between them quickly), it has 33 ranks
(sets of pipes having the same tone quality, one pipe for each note on the keyboard or
pedalboard), and the organ “speaks” with well over 1000 pipes—the original had 1630. The
pipes are also not visible, but housed in two chambers—one in the wall that faces the
congregation of the south transept, and another larger one in the south wall of the chancel above
and behind the pulpit. The organ console also sounds a set of 21 tubular cathedral chimes and
three bells in the tower. Those tower bells are from Our Savior’s Lutheran, one of the
congregations that merged to form United Lutheran.17
However Grand or Modest…
… this, or any religious structure is not the church. Today United Lutheran is a
congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church America, and one of “nearly 10,500
congregations across the U. S. and Caribbean,” church home to 4.8 million members according
to the ELCA website.18 Jon M. Dumpys is United’s eighth senior pastor following the ministries
of Mark Reshan, Robert Sorenson, Edward Nervig, Wayne Tellekson, Elmer Hjortland, Edwin
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Hegge, and Martin Anderson. The list of pastoral succession in itself says nothing about what
has changed and what has remained the same about the congregation. What has clearly changed
is that United has ceased to be the spiritual and social focus of predominantly Norwegian
immigrants, their children, and grandchildren. United’s last regular Norwegian-language service
was in 1943.19 Since at least the 1970s “the vitality of United Lutheran Church…is inextricably
bound to our parish community, Oak Park,” in the words of a pamphlet produced for United’s
fiftieth anniversary. 20 In other words, United has been looking outward to the spiritual and
material needs of its home village. What has also changed is the size of the congregation which
in 1977 was 800 strong and took in 50 new members that year. Yet the downward trend,
common across many American congregations, need not be seen as United’s unalterable destiny.
In the 1980s United’s membership jumped: “(731 baptized as of mid-May 1988 and 582
confirmed) includes single adults, both young and old; teenagers who’'ve joined on their own;
one-parent as well as the more traditional nuclear families; and members of the working poor
along with the middle and upper-middle classes.”21
What has not changed over the past eighty years is the commission to worship and serve
God and neighbors, as He has given us light and grace to do. This sense of mission has been
expressed in many ways. The current mission statement simply states that “United Lutheran
congregation strives to return God's love by worshipping God in Christ, helping the needy and
fostering religious faith in children, youth and adults.” In 1975 it was aptly put this way:
Our goal should be to reach even more people. We have a lot to offer: the Gospel
of Jesus Christ; it is a proclamation enabling all…to achieve salvation by
believing what God has done through His Son. If we really feel that United is an
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effective instrument of Jesus Christ, we will encourage others to receive these
benefits, and United will remain strong.
…United's survival as an institution is important, but not our supreme
concern. What really matters is the extension of God's Kingdom, and it is of
lesser consequence whether or not there is an institution called United Lutheran
Church in 50 years.22
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Endnotes
1
According to the official Dedication Program, “The United Evangelical Lutheran Church is the
result of two mergers. The first in 1919 when St. Paul's and St. John's Churches united, and the
second in 1925 when Our Savior's, Bethlehem and St. Paul's Lutheran Churches merged. This
represents almost 70 years of Church work.” United held its first service on January 3, 1926.
United Evangelical Lutheran Congregation, Dedication Program (no publisher, ca. November
11, 1928), 23-4.
2
Dedication Program, 9 and 10. According to the Milwaukee County Historical Society, Stearns
was a decorated veteran who also received a citation from the President of the postwar German
republic for his ministry to German POWs. “Gustave Stearns Collection”
http://www.milwaukeehistory.net/museum/exhibits/online-exhibit/unlocking-the-vault/gustavestearns-collection-text/ (accessed August 1, 2011).
3
Dedication Program, 15. The estimates came from a calculator created by Lawrence H. Officer
and Samuel H. Williamson, “Measuring Worth: Seven Ways to Compute the Relative Value of
a U.S. Dollar Amount - 1774 to Present” http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/ (accessed
July 31, 2011).
4
Thanks to Frank Lipo, Executive Director of The Historical Society of Oak Park and River
Forest for his survey of the archives of the Chicago Tribune that revealed the variety of churches
Brand designed in the Chicagoland area.
5
Dedication Program, 13-5 and 26.
6
The Italian art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), a near contemporary of Martin Luther,
applied the term gothic to this style of architecture in order to highlight its non-classical Roman
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origins. He was definitely not being complimentary, but critical of its perceived coarseness and
lack of Roman sophistication. The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn
Timeline of Art History, “Gothic Art” http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mgot/hd_mgot.htm
(accessed July 19, 2011), and Paul Frankl, Gothic Architecture, revised edition by Paul Crossley
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 263.
7
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and Frankl, 269-74.
8
Dedication Program, 14.
9
Durand de Mende quoted in Catherine Brisac, A Thousand Years of Stained Glass, translated by
Geoffrey Culverwell, reprint edition (Edison, NJ: Chartwell Books, 2001), 7.
10
Dedication Program, 16.
11
J. C. J. Metford, Dictionary of Christian Lore and Legend: Sect, Symbol, Saint… (London:
Thames and Hudson, 1983).
12
Al Palmer of Gaytee Stained Glass, Minneapolis, Minnesota in an email, July 18, 2001,
confirmed that antique glass refers not to its age but to the way it was made, and that United’s
windows are made of German antique glass.
13
Geology.com, “Elements of Color in Stained and Colored Glass”
http://www.geology.com/articles/color-in-glass.shtml (accessed July 20, 2011).
14
The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, “Stained
Glass in Medieval Europe” http://www.metmuseum.org/hd/glas/hd_glas.htm (accessed July 19,
2011).
15
Martin Luther, Preface to Georg Rhaus Delightful Symphonies [better Delightful Harmonies],
translated by Ulrich Leupold in Luther’s Works, vol. 53: Liturgy and Hymns edited by Leupold
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965), 322-3. I modernized the language.
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16
17
Dedication Program, 16.
Thanks to Yollanda Bornhoff and Steven Wente for providing me information about the organ
including a copy of the invoice from the now out-of-business Gruber Pipe Organ Company
outlining their proposed modifications. D. L. Simmons and Company, “Glossary of Organ
Terms” http://www.qualityorgans.com/glossary.htm (accessed August 29, 2011) and United
Lutheran Congregation, 1925-1975: United Lutheran Church, Oak Park (Chicago: Alfred
Mossner Printing, ca. November 1975). This fiftieth-anniversary pamphlet bears no author and
is not paginated.
18
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, “Who We Are” http://www.elca.org/Who-We-
Are.aspx (accessed August 3, 2011).
19
United Lutheran Congregation, Strong in Spirit; United for the Future: Sixty Years in Oak
Park, United Lutheran Church 1928-1988 (Chicago: Alfred Mossner Printing, ca. November
1988). This pamphlet cites no author and is not paginated.
20
1925-1975: United Lutheran Church, Oak Park.
21
Strong in Spirit; United for the Future.
22
1925-1975: United Lutheran Church, Oak Park. Emphasis added.