Pastor Hugh's Monthly Meditation
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THE LUTHER ROSE WINDOW:
A SYMBOL OF OUR FAITH
This month we turn to another window: Luther’s Rose Window. This one will be a bit hard to find. It is in the narthex, at the top of the south-facing window, partially hidden by the ceiling.
Click on image to see a larger view of St. Paul’s “Luther Rose” Window, in a separate window.
The Luther Rose (or Luther Seal) has long been a symbol of Lutheranism and Lutheran faith. The best explantation of its symbolic meaning comes from a letter written to one of Luther’s friends. When asked by his friend, Lazarus Spengler, what his seal symbolized, Luther wrote: “The first should be a black cross in a heart, which retains its natural color, so that I myself would be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us. ‘For one who believes from the heart will be justified’ (Rom. 10:10). Although it is indeed a black cross, which mortifies and which should also cause pain, it leaves the heart in its natural color. It does not corrupt nature, that is, it does not kill but keeps alive. ‘The just shall live by faith’ (Rom. 1:17) but by faith in the crucified. Such a heart should stand in the middle of a white rose, to show that faith gives joy, comfort, and peace. In other words, it places the believer into a white, joyous rose, for this faith does not give peace and joy like the world gives (John 14:27). That is why the rose should be white and not red, for white is the color of the spirits and the angels (cf. Matt. 28:3; John 20:12). Such a rose should stand in a sky-blue field, symbolizing that such joy in spirit and faith is a beginning of the heavenly future joy, which begins already, but is grasped in hope, not yet revealed. And around this field is a golden ring, symbolizing that such blessedness in Heaven lasts forever and has no end. Such blessedness is exquisite, beyond all joy and goods, just as gold is the most valuable, most precious and best metal.” (Luther's Works: American Edition, Vol. 49:356-359)
It seems to be a growing trend within many Christian congregations to avoid too much discussion of Jesus’ death on the cross. It is one thing to mention it on Good Friday, but much more than that, and we can become uncomfortable. We want to hear about God’s love for us, the new life that is promised for those who believe, and the “Good News” of the Resurrection. Yet, at the heart of Luther’s belief system, and symbolized by the black cross at the center of his Rose, is the conviction, expressed initially by Paul that we Christians “proclaim Christ (Messiah) crucified”. (I Cor. 1:23) Paul recognized that a crucified Messiah would be a “stumbling block” to his fellow Jews who were anticipating a politically victorious Messiah, and “foolishness” to his gentile audience who saw Jesus’ death as an illogical outcome for one who was supposed to be the “Son of God.”
In many ways this recoiling from Jesus ultimate sacrifice, especially the notion that it was necessary, can make us uncomfortable, too. Yet for Paul, and for Luther, it was only by way of the cross (Jesus’s death) that humanity had access to any real and lasting hope. And while the cross may seem like an ugly and messy way to deliver that hope, it was, for Paul and Luther, the only possible way it could be done.
Faith, the clinging by the heart to God’s promise, is not a matter of the head and its intellectual processes. What may be hard for the mind to comprehend, the heart clings to by faith. And this faith, we are promised, brings with it a “joy, comfort, and peace” that the world cannot give. Through Christ’s death, we have been given life. That life is eternal. That life can never be wrenched away.
The Luther Rose: So much promise in so simple a window. It’s worth searching for this window and pondering its promise.
Hugh R. B. Haffenreffer
Pastor
June 2008
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