A stained-glass window depicting Christ on the cross inside Christ United Methodist Church in Rockford shattered after an accidental fire tore through the building on Feb. 23. No one was hurt. Rather than let the fragments go to waste, members of the congregation gathered them up and turned them into something they now wear to church.
The fire started when the church organ caught fire during a practice session, according to the Chicago Tribune. Firefighters broke the stained-glass window nearest the organ to vent smoke from the building, and investigators later determined the blaze was accidental. A separate report from mystateline.com put the damage estimate at around $100,000, noting that fire officials said all occupants had self-evacuated safely.
Mark West, who served as the church’s trustee chair, collected stained-glass fragments on the night of the fire, the Tribune reported. He later said the glass would continue the church’s story.
From Kiln to Keepsake
The job of transforming the wreckage fell to Laura Johnson, owner and operator of Starved Rock Hot Glass in Ottawa, Illinois. Johnson fused the salvaged glass in a kiln, and the United Methodist Church of the Northern Illinois Conference reported that she made pendants and worry stones from the fragments…