My congregation is in the midst of celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year.  In conjunction with that, we are having a thank offering for sanctuary remodeling.  In preparation for that process, we are doing a series of “steeplechases”, that is, going and looking at area churches and looking at the art and architecture of the space.

The first church we looked at is St. John’s Lutheran Church in Racine.  Here is a link to some of the pictures.  You can click on any of the images to see them in a larger format, or you may look at them on Flickr, where they live:

[flickr-gallery mode=”photoset” photoset=”72157625823602143″]

There are lots of things I love about this space.  The stained glass, the altar, the art on the sides, its light.  I especially appreciated how bright and cheerful the space is.

Some of the elements that I didn’t think worked well in the space were the color of the wood (blond wood just is tough), the carpet, and the yellow tint on the front stained glass.  A part of the difficulty with the yellow in the stained glass is the interaction with the blond colored wood.

All in all it is a beautiful space that well befits the divine service.  I know they are planning some more renovations, including replacing pews and putting tile in.  I look forward to seeing what more they might do with the space.

-Pastor Peperkorn