West Texas is home to one of the world’s largest rose windows. The stained-glass masterpiece draws in visitors from all across the earth to First United Methodist Church in Lubbock, Texas, just to appreciate the beauty of the Window of Creation.
The window stretches 26 and a half feet in diameter, securing it a world’s record as one of the eight biggest rose windows still in existence. Previously, it had been counted as one of the four largest. Within the central circle, God is depicted as holding the universe in one hand and reaching out his other hand in a blessing and offer of redemption. Psalm 150:6 is the window’s dedicated text: “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” The rose window is indeed a masterpiece of praise in art.
Photo: Facebook/First United Methodist Church of Lubbock
First United Methodist Church has been called the “Cathedral of the West” for its English architecture, the gothic style of its sanctuary, and the beauty of its stained glass. The rose window has shone in the sanctuary for over 60 years. Crafted in England, the widow was carried across the Atlantic piecemeal and hauled to Texas.
The artist behind the work was a British man named Arthur Erridge, who came from a humble background. Born in 1899 above a livery stable, Erridge seemed an unlikely candidate for a future master artist. A vicar secured young Erridge an apprentice with an art studio, but even so, the priest didn’t believe that Erridge would succeed. “The vicar never really thought I’d make it,” Erridge later recalled, “because he didn’t think I was good enough.”
Photo: Facebook/First United Methodist Church of Lubbock
Arthur Erridge went on to prove himself one of the finest craftsmen of stained glass to have ever lived. His art is housed within churches all over Great Britain, and many of his works were shipped to the U.S. as well. In the late 1950s, Erridge visited the states and stopped by some of the churches were his windows let in the light.
After Erridge died at 62-years-old, his family and friends grieved the loss of a Christian man of great kindness and great talent, an artist who never failed to encourage others. “You can’t train to be an artist,” Erridge said. “You’ve got to be inspired, to learn by what you see and hear and do. You must draw and draw and draw. It’s a disciplined art.”
