Church’s Stained-Glass Project Leaves the Congregation Aglow : Craftsmanship: About 40 volunteers at a Mission Viejo Lutheran parish design and create four windows, saving the more than $50,000 and promoting unity.

A thousand years ago, the sunlight shining through stained glass was known as “the light of God.” As Dee Strubb looked up at the brilliantly colored windows being set in place at Mount of Olives Church she understood why.

“To see the light coming through is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen,” Strubb said recently as she gazed at the religious symbols depicted on the windows. “And to think that our hands did this takes my breath away.”

With little or no experience in the art of stained glass, about 40 volunteers at the Lutheran church designed and created four windows, each standing about 18 feet high and weighing 800 pounds. Their two months of work saved the church more than $50,000.

But for the volunteers, handcrafting their symbol of worship was the real reward. “It’s been a religious inspiration that is absolutely breathtaking,” Donna Grisanti said. “These windows will be here for our grandchildren. I’m proud to have been a part of this.”

To make the windows, the church members used a method called dalle facet, which is less complicated than making leaded stained glass, said Dr. Jerry Pedersen, senior pastor at the church.

Instead of thin plate glass held together by lead soldering, the stained glass is about an inch thick and held in place by a sand-and-glue mixture.

“We couldn’t have done it using leaded glass,” Pedersen said. “It’s much too detailed and would have taken too much time.”

The process starts with a drawing of the window design, Pedersen said. Diamond-tipped saw blades carve the thick, colored glass into the required shapes.

The cut glass is laid on top of the design sheet and secured inside a frame with clay. Then, sand mixed with epoxy glue is poured between the glass segments to provide background and further cement the heavy glass.

Once Pedersen decided to make the windows a church project, he went to five art studios that specialize in stained glass, looking for someone to guide the project.

He was rejected by all. “They didn’t want to be associated with this,” he said. “They just didn’t think we could do a good job.”

But Pedersen took stained-glass classes, then guided his congregation through the process, which cost about $18,000 rather than the $75,000 estimates offered by the studios, he said.

As shades of colored light filtered through the windows and shined on the church pews, Pedersen said that he didn’t think that a professional could have done a better job.

“I think they look marvelous,” he said. “I do feel vindicated.”

A few days before, as he directed the final touches to the windows, Pedersen said the project has helped draw the congregation closer.

“I was surprised at how eagerly people have gotten involved with this,” said Pedersen, a former Marine. “People build relationships in the process, and it’s been good for the congregation.”

“One woman came up to me after we got started and said: ‘I’ve always been kind of afraid of you. But I’ve seen a different side of you during this, and I feel more comfortable with you now.’ ”

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a congregation doing stained glass,” said Father Arthur Holquin, rector of the Holy Family Cathedral in Orange and former director of liturgy for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.

“Because stained glass is a very precise science,” he said, “it’s rare you would see a congregation get involved in something like that. I think it’s a very exciting concept.”

Pedersen plans to start replacing the other four major windows lining the right side of the church next month. He hopes eventually to create a glass mural by the front doors of the church and to replace several other windows with the congregation’s work.

Recently, a handful of the volunteers gathered to absorb the full impact of their work.

“Simply magnificent,” Strubb said.