Monday, August 10, 2009

Zion Lutheran, Lima

Established in 1855, this is the fourth church home for this congregation. This church was built in 1976, after the congregation agreed to sell their historic downtown church to make way for urban development.
That's an interesting bell tower ...
... with their old bell.
The old cornerstone is right by the front doors.
Intended to be a quick outside-photo stop during another heavily-scheduled weekday, when I saw that the church was open for VBS, I went into the office and asked if I could do some pictures of the sanctuary. They graciously obliged ...
The two vertical chancel windows cast an eerie purplish glow over the sanctuary, made all that much more surrealistic by the VBS decorations (Crocodile Dock).
I went up to the altar area, behind the decorations, for a look-see. According to church historian Beth Milks, this altar and reredos were in use at their previous church, built in downtown Lima in 1913; but installed during a 1964 renovation. It was one of quite a few items that the congregation brought along to this building, in memory of their previous church (now demolished). This altar appears much older than mid-60's.
This arrangement of offering plates is to the left of the altar.
A view back from the chancel.
They also brought along stained glass windows from the old church. It was explained to me as I was taking these photos, that the edges of the roof were built too low for sunlight to reach the tops of the windows ... a bit of an ohno-moment!
This wonderful Martin Luther window, though, is in the chapel next to the sanctuary, and catches the light perfectly. This used to be mounted in the choir loft at the old church.
This altar, lectern, and font were in use at the old church before the altar in the sanctuary. There used to be a reredos, but it sadly disappeared somewhere along the line. These pieces were painted this antique white by a member of the congregation, at the time the new church was built; and are now used in the chapel. The cross and candlesticks appeared quite old.
I didn't find out about this piece, in the long hallway just outside of the sanctuary. It very much appears to be another altar, and if I find out any more about it, I'll update.
A photo of the old church on the wall close to the altar-table, with the chancel windows glowing on it in a poignant way ...
In a lounge/meeting room can be found this board with pictures of all the former pastors ...
Thanks so much to Beth Milks for the historical info!

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