Window Cleaning, in Its Highest Form
When 91 years of church history is in your hands while you’re on a scissor lift two stories up, there is only one way to do the job.
“Very carefully,” said John Mihld, who removed 16 panels of stained glass from St. John’s Lutheran Church so they could be cleaned and re-leaded in a Los Angeles workshop over the next three months.
On Thursday, Mihld and Paul Martinez of the Judson Studios finished their two-day job at the historic church in downtown Orange.
“I think my heart skipped a beat watching them take those panels out,” said William J. Heide, St. John’s minister of worship and music.
The stained-glass windows, which church officials said were shipped to the United States from Germany before World War I, are the awe-inspiring centerpiece of the church.
“They symbolize our history,” said associate pastor Chris Singer. “They symbolize the faith that has been passed down from generation to generation. They’re very dear to the heart of the congregation.”
The windows depicting five biblical scenes have served as the backdrop for hundreds of wedding portraits over the years.
Singer said he had witnessed many brides scouting locations for their fairy-tale weddings.
“You just hear them say, ‘Wow!’ This is the kind of place I always dreamed of getting married in.”
The windows are set in arched panels on the side and front of the church, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
They were ordered through the Ford Brothers Glass Co. of Minneapolis and cost, at the time, a little more than $3,000. Today, they are valued at $190,000, church officials said.
Mihld and Martinez removed only the windows that tell the story of Jesus with the woman at the well -- a woman shunned and forced to draw water alone.
According to the Bible, Jesus identified the woman as an adulterer before she confessed her sins to him. Yet Jesus chose to speak to the woman, who was a Samaritan, when no one else would.
It is an example, Singer said, of Jesus’ forgiveness and loving grace.
Refurbishment will cost $60,000. Carpenters will replace the termite-infested wooden panes, and glass workers will dismantle the windows.
Once back at the Judson Studios’ Los Angeles workshop, a rubbing will be made of the window. The lead will be removed, and every piece of glass will be soaked and cleaned. The re-leading process takes the longest, Martinez said, because it is like putting a puzzle back together.
“The painting on the glass is very unique,” Martinez said. “You really can’t match it anymore. To preserve it is a good decision.”
