People encountering the grace of the living God.

This Is My Beloved Son In Whom I Am Well Pleasedwin4_jpg

The Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist marked the onset of our Lord’s teaching ministry. There appears a strange monogram at the upper left, made up of the Greek letters which spell the word ichtbus and the fish is there in confirmation of it. The early Christian symbol of our Lord, the fish, is ichthus in Creek, and the Greek letters form the acronym of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.

As is easily noted in the following plates, historic highlights of Lutheran development in North America and, more specifically, in First Lutheran Church, comprise the lower portions of windows four through ten. In this particular window, John Campanius, the first Lutheran missionary in North America, is depicted preaching to three American Indians in 1643, His most memorable accomplishment was a translation of Luther’s Small Catechism into the language of the Delaware Indians, although he also served as pastor to the Swedish Lutherans who settled along the Delaware River and led the construction of their church at Philadelphia.

The type of tepees shown in the background, the presence of the beached canoe, and the particular garb and head-feathers of the Indians seated on the blanket identify them as people of the Middle Atlantic region, definitely of the Leni-Lenape grouping, and most probably of the Delaware tribe.

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