Knox United Church Analysis

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"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12
I would like to tell you about a smaller, but lovely, sacred space close to my home, called the Knox United Church. It is a place in Calgary, Canada, where I live now, that is over 100 years old and known for its special features and peaceful attitudes of acceptance. It is a beautiful old church, a cornerstone of calm in our hectic downtown. The gentle looking, soft brown sandstone building rests serenely amongst the metal and glass of soaring modern high-rises, and is a beacon to the vulnerable in our harsh winters.
The Knox United Church, originally called Knox Presbyterian or “The Cathedral of the West”, had its beginnings in the saloon of a small 1881 …show more content…

The desire to assist people as much as possible on their individual spiritual paths, with an emphasis on self-discovery is evident in the layout of the church. For instance, a room includes a large Chartres Labyrinth painted in a single path leading to a center and out again, such that people may symbolically walk the spiritual pilgrimage. The reflecting walk also serves to remind us of those who walked great distances hundreds of years past in honor of the teachings of Christ. The path walked is described as "movement is a body prayer through the architecture of the soul. As we move to the centre, healing, transformation and the divine can be known." (Knox United Church, n.d., para. …show more content…

In addition to the central figure of the Resurrected Christ, the window 's three tiers show angels and cherubs joyfully praising the Lord on the same heavenly tier as Jesus. The tier below Jesus shows glorified spirits in the form of knights in armor of light, who symbolize the virtues of Fidelity, Nobility, Honor, Humility, Devotion, Patience, Sincerity, Brotherly Love, and Charity (Knox United Church, n.d., para. 4). Finally, the lowest tier shows us why the window is named “The Memorial Window”. In the bottom tier, we face our humanity and the horrors of war. We see soldiers on both sides of wars suffering and dying, their souls awakening to the warm glow of the welcoming Christ above. Even more poignant history and emotion is added to the window when the visitor realizes that the Memorial imagery is personal to the church, in that it lost 50 members of its own congregation to the brutalities of World War I. The Memorial Window is "dedicated to the memory of the men of Knox Church, of whom fifty fell in the Great War that Liberty and Justice might not perish from the earth." (Knox United Church, n.d.,

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