Lord’s Supper Carving
In the Hope Church sanctuary’s chancel area is a woodcarving of the Lord’s Supper, including the long table with Jesus and the twelve disciples eating bread and drinking wine. The scene is framed in a case of scroll-worked wood with long columns on each side, topped with angels. It was carved by Alois Lang, “among the foremost of America’s woodcarvers,” according to the Holland City News (October 23, 1947). Mrs. Albert C. Keppel donated the carving to Hope Church in memory of her husband.
Stained Glass Windows
The stained glass windows located in the sanctuary were given in honor of friends and members of Hope Church.
From left to right: St. John the Baptist: “In memory of Gerrit John Kollen, LL.D, former President of Hope College, and his wife, Mary W. Van Raalte Kollen”; St. John the Evangelist: “In memory of Ellen Grace Dean, wife of John Talmadge Bergen, D.D., former pastor of Hope Church”; Christ Blessing a Little Child: “In memory of George Edward Kollen, 1871-1919”; St. Stephen: “In memory of Ida Sears McLean, 1865-1910”; St. Paul: “In memory of Mary Alcott Diekema, 1858-1910”; Moses: “In memory of John Coatsworth Post, 1854-1903, the first child baptised in Hope Church”; Elijah: “In memory of Mrs. Jane C. vander Veen Boyd, 1872-1922”; The Good Shepherd: “In memory of Rev. Philip Phelps, D.D. Founder of Hope Church and first President of Hope College, and his wife, formerly Margaret Anna Jordan”; David: “In memory of Henry Boers, A.M., Mrs. Louise Birkhoff Boers, Henry Boers, Jr.”; Isaiah: “In memory of John H. Kleinheksel, Vera Anna Kleinheksel”
Rose Window
Stained Glass in the Commons
In 1982, six faceted glass windows designed by J. Hector were part of the January 10 dedication of the Parish Life Center Building. The windows depict the natural seasons and the Christian calendar; they were given in memory of Gertrude Vander Broek by the Vander Broek family.
These descriptions are by the artist:
Advent: The purple color suggests the penitential time, a time of preparation. The small slip of green with pure white flower is still in the womb of the earth. Above is the water and the Tree of Life reaching up to the heaven. Through the golden leaves the pale tip of the new moon is seen through the tree. Purple is also the royal color and here heralds the coming of the King. The white flower of purity and faith is also associated with the Virgin Mary, as is the moon, which is the symbol of the eternal feminine.
Christmas: The Sun is rising, bringing new life, the pure gold of unity and wholeness to light the world. Like a halo it appears above the purple where the manger cradles the newborn King. A brighter ray of light above suggests the Spirit now incarnate upon earth below. The alpha and omega signs appear in the band of brown or flesh tones suggesting the sense of earth and humanity.
Epiphany: The guiding star shines in the heaven as a message to mankind that Christ is born. Below, the candlelight the darkness expressing the theme of Epiphany as Christ’s light shows forth to the world.
Lent: The deep tones of red and purple suggest the sacrificial blood and the wine, symbols of the Passion of Our Lord crucified. Below the Cross is the Chalice and the green leaf, sign that the earth is soon to spring into new life.
Easter: The white lilies appear in a field of flowers and bright greenery with many tulips. At the top of the window upon wings outspread appears the word HOPE, for this is the time of the Resurrection of the Lord.
Pentecost: The Dove, image of the Holy Spirit, descends to earth with tongues of flame. The image of Holy Baptism is expressed in the meeting of the Fire and the Water – the Spirit touches the Water of life. The Sun appears amidst the leaves of the Tree in rich summer greens, completing the seasons. So as in the beginning is in the end – fruit, seed, flower and fruit again.
Rooster Weathervane
Weather- or wind-vanes have sat high atop manmade structures since at least 50 years before the birth of Christ. In the 9th Century A.D., the Pope decreed that every church in Europe prominently display a cock on its dome or steeple as a reminder of Jesus’ prophecy that the cock would not crow the morning after the Last Supper until the disciple Peter had renounced Him three times (Luke 22:34). These static images of cocks eventually converted to moving weathercocks or vanes, and Chaucer mentions these turning in the wind in 13th or 14th Century England.
On the morning of June 27, 1982, the Hope Church congregation held a special Service of Dedication for its restored tower and steeple. Present at the service was the Reverend James Van Hoeven, pastor of the historic First Church of Albany, New York, one of the oldest Reformed Churches in America. With him was a gift from that church to Hope Church – a replica of the oldest weathervane in the United States. This was a rooster, made of beaten brass, fresh from the Netherlands. The original (now in First Church of Albany’s museum) graced the steeple of the Albany church for several centuries from the year 1656. It symbolizes the cock that crowed when Peter denied Christ’s call to be true to the faith.
The gift to Hope Church, the Reverend Van Hoeven stated as he presented it, was in commemoration, especially, of the visit by Dr. Isaac Wykcoff from Albany to Holland colony in 1849 to invite Albertus Van Raalte and his followers to join the Dutch Reformed Church in the United States.
In his acceptance of the weathervane, Elder Ekdal Buys, vice-president of the Hope Church consistory, commented:
“I trust, Reverend Jim, that your journey here did not parallel that of Dr. Wykcoff. History tells us that he used stagecoach from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, then steamboat to Detroit, and finally to the shores of Black Lake by a team and wagon. With Dr. Van Raalte and others he followed to Indian Trails, from one clearing and settlement to another. His purpose was to influence the colony to merge with the Reformed Church in America. Dr. Wykcoff and his companions even swam the Black River to reach Groningen and spent the evening with the Rev. Vander Meulen in Zeeland. It is interesting to note that in Zeeland they were ”˜lavished with bread, butter, and coffee’ before departing for Vriesland.“