Bienvenue! Saint John the Baptist Church in All Saints Parish: Joyeux Noël à tous !
https://julianalheureux.substack.com/p/bienvenue-visit-saint-john-the-baptist
Bienvenue! Visit Saint John the Baptist Church in BrunswickA beautiful setting to enjoy meditating on the Christmas religious celebrations.
Bienvenue! Visit Saint John the Baptist Church in Brunswick
A beautiful setting to enjoy meditating on the Chrismas religious celebrations.
Christmas decorations at St. John the Baptist Church, fondly known as “St. John’s” on Pleasant Street in Brunswick, contribute to a perfect setting for the religious celebrations held on Christmas Eve and on Christmas day. St. John’s is one in the cluster of the All Saints Parish churches in the Brunswick, Bath, Boothbay, Richmond, Harpswell and Newcastle communities. (L’Heureux photographs included.) Check the parish website at allsaintsmaine.com.
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| Saint John the Baptist "creche" nativity |
An essay published in the St. John history pamphlet, published in 1992 (third edition), describes how St. John’s is more than a church building. In fact, in the tradition of medieval cathedrals, the architecture and interior religious shrines are instructional. Rev. Kenneth Thibodeau, who was the pastor, wrote the essay in the introduction to the pamphlet titled, “Have you ‘read’ a good church lately?”
The question is asked only partly in jest, for there was a time in the history of the Church when “reading the face of a cathedral” was a quite normal experience in the life of a Christian.
In the Middle Ages, the time of the construction of the great cathedrals of Europe it was the custom to look upon these magnificent churches as “sermons in stone”.
Each church could be read in its statuary, its paintings, its sculpture, and its stained glass windows. Each church had its own particular story to tell, each church proclaimed the message of the Good News in its own unique way, with its own particular points of emphasis and local experiences.
The artistry and skills of the Medieval builders, craftsmen and artists provided a people who in large part possessed minimal reading skills with a marvelous array of visual aids for their growth in understanding and appreciation of the richness of Christian revelation.
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| Religious inscriptions in the Saint John's sanctuary are painted in French. |
I am always delighted when I see mothers and fathers waling leisurely around our Saint John’s Church with their young children and pointing to windows statues, paintings and symbols to communicate the Christian faith and the Christian experience which is our shared heritage.
Although I would not presume to suggest that St. John the Baptist Church of Brunswick, Maine is on a par with the quality of the Medieval cathedrals, I nevertheless believe that our Church is a good example of the traditional style of church that not only gathers people together in a place for worship, but also has its own version of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ to communicate to those who will take the time to “read” it.
Father Thibodeau, sm, Pastor, ends his essay with “Welcome! Sit and browse a while!”
Bienvenue! Christmas is the prefect time to enjoy the religious beautify in St. John’s Church sanctuary.
Joyeux noel à tous !
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