About Good Shepherd

The first Lutheran church in Irving, Good Shepherd was organized in 1952.  It called its first pastor, Rev. Lester L. Hall, in April of the following year, the congregation worshiping in the J.O. Schulze Elementary School.  The original worship facility was built in 1954 and underwent three subsequent expansions, to house a Christian Day School which operated from September 1963 through May, 1985 and to add a new kitchen facility in 2001.

 

The Sanctuary

The shaping of interior space controlled the design of this building.  Seating is organized in relation to the worship center, emphasizing the Lutheran concept of the gathering of God’s people around Word and Sacrament as the source of God’s grace and power for faith, life and mission.

   

Baptismal Font

The shell is a traditional Christian symbol for Holy Baptism.  Our font is a shell brought up from the depths of the South Pacific.  It recalls the ancient biblical concept of the bottom of the sea as the place of both utter dissolution and new creation…a concept close to that of the New Testament teaching which declares Holy Baptism to be the place of our death and rebirth in the Body of Christ.

   

The Organ

The pipe organ in the loft of the church is a mechanical-action instrument totally rebuilt by the Redman Organ Co. of Ft. Worth.  Equipped with 16 stops, 18 ranks, and 1,015 pipes, it is designed for a wide range of performance, with its primary voicing devoted to the music of congregational worship.

   

Good Shepherd Symbols & Windows

The six forward sanctuary windows are arranged to form a sequential depiction of the festivals of the Church Year.  Thus, beginning with the third window on the left, Christmas is followed by Epiphany and Easter.  Thereafter, on the right, Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity complete the cycle.  The four remaining windows, two on each side closest to the Narthex, are Baptism and Good Friday (left) and the Word of God and Holy Communion (right).  The windows were designed by Rev. Robert Werberig, pastor of Good Shepherd at the time when the sanctuary was built.  They were executed by Foster Stained Glass Studios of Brenham, Texas.

 

   

The Good Shepherd Window

This round signature window in the north wall of the sanctuary is our only “picture” window, a straight-forward representation of our Lord, the Good Shepherd.  The symbol of the shepherd, aside from being our namesake, embraces all that Jesus Christ is and does for us.  He seeks, finds, heals, leads, feeds, and saves us.  By laying down His life for use, He is able, finally, to offer us to His Father, not having lost one of those who belonged to Him.

   

The Entry Window

The horizontal strip of faceted glass completes a unity of color related to that of the Shepherd window and the glass unit mounted in the tower.  It introduces the motif of three strands of color which weave through the lower sections of all the sanctuary windows.  Always moving through the “ground” material of each, the triple strand carries the suggestion that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are simultaneously at work, on our behalf, in the material of our everyday lives.

   

 

The Tower Window

The tower against the exterior north wall of the church is constructed of columnar steel, supporting a panel of stained glass out of which rises a six foot cross.  Colors in the glass of the north wall’s Shepherd window and the colors of the entrance window are repeated in the tower panel’s radial design.  All three are lit at night.

   

Baptism

By the Spirit’s power, the water of Holy Baptism becomes God’s vehicle for rebirth and newness.  Out of the natal sac of the death and grave of Christ’s crucifixion comes the resurrection life of those reborn of Baptism’s waters…”not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”.

   

Good Friday

Heart and center of the Christian Faith is the message of the Gospel, offering to all the sacrifice of One…sinless and innocent…who is made to be sin for us.  The tilted cross doubles as an echo of the manger of Christmas, where by his Incarnation, God first came to identify Himself with us and for us in our need.

   

Christmas

The Christ-Child is offered to the world by the hands of a God which are bound by His love for the condemned world and by His promise of life and pardon to it.  Flanked by the wings of attending angels, the birth of Jesus becomes and remains the chief gift of God to the end of time.

   

Epiphany

“…Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3)  Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, shining for and upon all, like the Morning-Star.  With a grace that urges us to press on in our journey toward God’s horizon, He draws His Pilgrim-people ever closer to the Holy city, the Heavenly Jerusalem.

   

Easter

The window tells the story of the wounded God who at the crack of dawn keeps His promise, raising the Christ who died for our redemption.  Since then, people who bear the mark of the Son follow in His tradition, engaged in the tasks of raising others from death.  Each such resurrection here is a small signal of the great resurrection yet to come.

   

Ascension

Based on Luke 24 and Acts 1, this window symbolically reminds us of the fruits of Christ’s ascension.  Elevated to kingship at God’s right hand, His work in the world is now continued by the fiery power of the Spirit within the committee life of God’s people.  The Mission Cross describes the nature of this work as generations of the Church move through time.

   

Pentecost

This window is a reminder that the Spirit is unpredictable, that He blows where He wills, always working, always free.  The center to which He constantly refers and points us is the Christ sent by God.  He is the Bringer of Gifts, all of which are the instruments of the new age over which He rules.

   

Holy Trinity

Father, Creator, Spirit, Life-Giver, Son, Redeemer.  The supreme glory of god is registered in light…first created object.  The life communicated by the spirit to our waiting hands has its source in the heart of the Father.  It is the life of the Son, present both in glory and in our midst.

   

Word of God

The Holy Spirit, who works in and through the word of the Gospel, is the power of God’s Mission, moving from faith to faith.  The “sword of the Word of God” is from Ephesians 6.  The igniting flame depicts the actualization of the Spirit’s will and power in life, and the leaves express the resultant life and growth within us and among us.

   

Holy Communion

Growth in grace, in the power of God, and in our unity in the spirit are signaled by the leaves of a vine and its branches, and by the Eucharistic elements at their center.