Ebenezer Sanctuary Highlights
Stained Glass Windows
The Ebenezer sanctuary features three large stained-glass windows with depictions of Jesus. Set around the image of Jesus are 3 round windows with symbols of one of the 3 persons of the Trinity. The images of Jesus are set atop a row of green slag glass windows that open to allow for air flow.
The windows were cut at a cost of $3,000. (Approximately $84,000 in 2019 dollars) The manufacturer, Flanagan and Biedenweg, was founded in 1878 and was Chicago’s largest art glass manufacturer by 1900. Flanagan and Biedenweg won a Grand Prize for stained glass at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. (Now housed in the DePaul University Library.) Designers at Flanagan and Biedenweg were William C. Biedenweg; Joseph and William C. Flanagan; Joseph A. Luxhelm; and James R. Thomas. Flanagan and Biedenweg closed in 1953.
In addition to Ebenezer, Flanagan and Biedenweg windows can be seen at St. Vincent de Paul Church, St. Ita's Church, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, and Winter Park Evangelical Church, all in Chicago; the Methodist Episcopal Church, Oak Park, IL; La Fayette School, La Fayette, IL; St. John’s Episcopal Church, Evansville, IL; and St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Downers Grove IL (War Memorial 1920).
The east window depicts a seated Jesus talking to the Woman at the Well. For an immigrant far from his/her family and hometown, the image of God knowing the true heart of each person was a powerful reminder to keep God’s commandments. The images surrounding Jesus recall God the Father, who gave the law and watches over humankind. The central image is the Eye of God; flanking it are the Ten Commandments and the Ark of the Covenant, all powerful Old Testament symbols.
The west window is an image of Jesus “suffer[ing] the little children to come unto me.” Ministering to children and families was a motivating force for the establishment of the congregation. The image of Jesus is surrounded by an image of a Lamb, the sacred heart of Jesus, and
In the south window above the gallery Jesus is walking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. This story from the Book of Acts shows the Jesus appearing to two disciples who do not recognize him after his resurrection. The disciples are amazed that anyone in Jerusalem has not heard the story of Jesus’ death, and they relate it to the stranger. Coming close to home, the disciples invite the stranger to eat and stay with them. When Jesus blesses the meal, the disciples suddenly recognize him, and Jesus disappears. For immigrant far from home, this story must have held special meaning, that Jesus was walking with them on their journeys to find a new life. The image is surrounded by the symbols of the Holy Spirt: a dove, a , and a .
In addition to the 3 large stained-glass windows, the sanctuary has several smaller decorative windows:
Between the large stained-glass windows are a series of teardrop windows depicting church symbols, such as a chalice, a cross and a baptismal font;
Over the main entrance is an eyebrow window with a crown, symbolizing Christ the King;
The west steeple tower boasts two rosette windows; the east steeple tower, a series of parabolas.
Through a generous bequest, Ebenezer has been able to clean, restore and cover all the windows in the sanctuary building in the last two years.
A Tall Ship in a Lutheran Church
During the 115th Anniversary of the Congregation, Ebenezer Lutheran Church received the gift of a votive ship. The ship reminds the congregation that we are meant to sail together in unity, in spirit and in hope. We are meant to be sailing together, to be in the same boat, to share the comfort and the discomfort of sailing over troubled waters, to be seated row by row to sail in the same directions. And most importantly we must leave the steering to God and to trust that God will indeed bring us safe to shore. The votive ship also reminds us of the recent history of Immigration from around the world to the United States, of how all of us have come to this place from someplace else.
A votive ship, sometimes called a church ship, is a ship model displayed in a church. As a rule, votive ships are constructed and given as gifts to the church by seamen and shipbuilders. Votive ships are relatively common in churches in the Scandinavian countries but are known also to exist in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain.
The practice of displaying model ships in churches stems from the Middle Ages and appears to have been known throughout Christian Europe, in both Catholic and Lutheran countries. The oldest known remaining votive ship is a Spanish ship model from the 15th century. A model ship originally displayed in Stockholm Cathedral (but today in the Stockholm Maritime Museum) dates from circa 1590 and is the oldest surviving example in the Nordic countries.
The imagery of ships has long played a role in places with sailing cultures, as well as in the Christian church. In the land of the Vikings, gravesites from the Bronze Age (1800 – 500 before Christ) tells us the story about ship-shaped gravesites. These are big monumental stones placed in a ship shaped circle. The ship was in that age the most powerful and glorious symbol of the connection between this world of humans and the other world of the Gods. The ship was the connection from here to there, from the world of humans and death to the world of Gods and eternity.
Christian culture looks back to the Bible for ship and sailing imagery. In the Gospel the story about the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus calms the waves of sea by his words and the sea obeys his command. This story shapes how the Christian Church understood itself as a crew, sailing together, on its way from this world to the Kingdom of God.
The early Christian church also used sailing imagery as a code to talk about the church in times of persecution. They made the association between the Greek word for a temple “NAOS” and the word for a ship “NAVS”. Similarly, In Latin the word for ship is “navis”. The mast of ship, as well as its anchor, can both be modified versions of the cross. As churches were built, the shape church building, while often in the shape of a cross, designates the longest part of the room to seat the congregation, the crew, is as a “nave” or a ship. The church roof over the nave also reflects the structure of a ship; the ceiling calls to mind the hull of a ship.
We are still sailing. And we are still in one boat. We need to steady the boat and not stir the waters by selfishness, gossip, or carelessness. We need to work together as one body; we need to sail together in unity and spirit. And then leave the steering to God.
Ebenezer Organ
The church sanctuary has housed 3 different organs since 1904. The first was installed in the rear balcony and probably was brought from the church building on Winnemac. When this organ failed, the congregation obtained a new instrument in 1916 from the J. P. Seeburg Company of Chicago, which built pipe organs mostly for theatres. The organ pipes were installed above the altar and the console was installed on the east side of the chancel along with choir stalls. In 1961, the congregation replaced the Seeburg organ with Opus 9611 of the M.P. Moeller Organ Company. As part of a redecoration of the sanctuary, the organ console moved to the west side of the sanctuary and the choir stalls were removed. The new organ was dedicated in service in October 1963 and a dedicatory recital was presented on November 12 by composer Virgil Fox.
The program for the dedication of the Moeller Organ was as follows:
Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor Johann Sebastian Bach Come Now Saviour Johann Sebastian Bach Prelude and Fugue in D Major Johann Sebastian Bach
Grande Piece Symphonique Cesar Franck Dieu Parmi Nous Olivier Messiaen
Giga Enrico Bossi Londonderry Air Traditional Final, Symphony VI Louis Vierne
The current Ebenezer Music Director is Dr. John Elmquist, who has served at Ebenezer for over 25 years. Dr. Elmquist has brought a blended music style to worship services, which includes not only organ and piano but also a monthly service led by a jazz trio. The Ebenezer music endowment fund allows Dr. Elmquist to invite a variety of musicians—violinist, a string quartet, harpist, guitarists, bassoonist, a variety of brass instruments, and a percussionist who plays a gas tank as a drum and a plastic pipe as a didgeridoo—throughout the year to play at worship services. Dr. Elmquist also leads an adult choir made up of members of the congregation. During his tenure, the choir has produced 6 recordings of Dr. Elmquist’s original music. The Ebenezer Children’s Choir also performs on a monthly basis.
During the Christmas season, Ebenezer, in conjunction with the Swedish-American Museum, hosts Chicago’s annual Lucia Fest on December 13. Lucia Fest features performances by the Chicago Swedish Children’s Choir, Varblomman; the Merula Ensemble; and Chicago Swedish Mixed Choir. Music is performed in both Swedish and English.
Ebenezer is home base for a wide variety of musical, dance and performing arts groups.
Ebenezer Furnishings and Art
Even though the Sanctuary building was complete in 1908, it would take another 4 years to furnish and decorate the interior. The early members of the congregation struggled to pay for the land, the building of the church, the building of the parsonage, and to additional plots of land to the east of the church for future expansion.
Andrew Norman, Ebenezer’s architect and one of the founding members of the congregation, worked on plans for the altar of the church for six months. Mr. Norman strove to create a perfectly balanced chancel area, that featured 3 peaked arches surrounded by florets. In the middle of each of the florets was an electrical fixture for an Edison bulb. The original plan called for the petals and leaves to be painted a soft red and green, which would play off the amber glow of the Edison bulb. The peaks of the arches would contain paintings depicting two scenes from the life of Jesus, Jesus praying in the Garden at Gethsemane in the west arch and Jesus rising from the dead in the east arch. In the middle arch, set back in a shallow apse, is the high altar. The walls surrounding the arches were decorated with art nouveau-inspired pattern of stencils, vines that played off the glowing florets.
On the west side of the altar, was a raised pulpit. Surrounding the altar was a hand-carved wooden rail forming a semi-circle to mirror the rounded apse. On the east side of the altar was the organ console and a series of choir stalls. The pulpit, the altar rail, the baptismal font, and the choir stalls were all hand carved in Norman’s wood-working shop by trained craftsmen. The carving on the gallery railing echoes the carving on the altar rail and was made in Norman’s shop, too. The newel posts and the spindles on the stairs leading up to the gallery were all also hand-made and the decorations hand-carved in Norman’s shop. Interesting to note are the differences between the newel posts and spindles in the larger west tower from those in the smaller east tower.
The original blueprints for the chancel and for other interior decorations are in the possession of Andrew Norman’s great-granddaughter, Chris Kale Corcoran. Photos of the plans may be seen in her biography of Andrew Norman, which is also visible on-line at
https://www.mycanvas.com/Sharing/TurnViewer?projectId=690923&accessToken=KUECnmXsaFA%3D.
Ironically, the neo-gothic high altarpiece and the statue of Jesus that stands in its niche are items from a church catalogue contemporary to the time. The statue is a replica of an original in the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Through several re-decorations of the sanctuary interior, the original stenciling, and paint scheme has changed, and sockets for the Edison bulbs have been plastered over. The original chandeliers were also changed out. The grill that covers the organ pipes also changed when the current organ was installed in 1962. At this time the choir stalls were removed, and the pulpit and organ traded places. The current decoration of the sanctuary dates from a major renovation in 1987. This expansion removed several rows of pews for the expansion of the chancel, the addition of a free-standing altar in front of the high altar, and the construction of the narthex wall.
Warner Sallman
Warner Sallman (April 30, 1892 – May 25, 1968) was an American painter from Chicago best known for his works of Christian religious imagery. He worked in commercial advertising, as well as a freelance illustrator. He is most associated with his portrait of Jesus, Head of Christ, of which more than 500 million copies have been sold. In 1994, the New York Times wrote he is likely to be voted the "best-known artist of the century".
Warner Elias Sallman was the eldest of three children born to Elias Sallman and Christiane (Larson) Sallman who were immigrants from Finland and Sweden. He trained by apprenticing in local studios while attending the Chicago Art Institute at night. There he became a protégé of Walter Marshall Cluett, a newspaper illustrator noted for his work during the Spanish American War. He initially was affiliated with local studios until he opened his own. In 1916, he married Ruth Anderson, whom he met while both were singing in the church choir.
Sallman grew up in the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant of America (which was later renamed the Evangelical Covenant Church), an Evangelical Protestant denomination. Although Sallman left the church when he was around 10 years of age to join Chicago's Waveland Avenue Congregational Church, he later returned to the Covenant Church. In 1910, Sallman went to work as an illustrator and copywriter in Chicago's burgeoning advertising industry. As Erica Doss writes, "Sallman made a career out of creating the advertising images that encouraged the habits of mass consumption." And he translated those talents into the creation of religious images.
Sallman's Head of Christ appeared in earlier form as a charcoal drawing entitled Son of Man (1924), gracing the cover of the Covenant Companion, the denominational magazine of the Evangelical Covenant Church. Sallman had been asked to produce an image of Christ for the Companion - an image that would appeal to young people - but he had a difficult time finishing the commission. Late one night, as he was trying to sleep, the image came to Sallman in what he called a "picturization" - a vision that Sallman understood to be an answer to prayer. It was only later, in1940, that Sallman produced Head of Christ as an oil painting on canvas. During the war years of the 1940s, the image was distributed by the USO and the YMCA to soldiers and sailors. From 1941 through the 1950s, Sallman produced many other images of Christ (e.g., Christ in Gethsemane, Christ at Heart's Door, The Lord is My Shepherd, and He Careth For You) that were variations on the original Head of Christ. These images continue to have very wide appeal even today. (This summary is heavily dependent on the interpretive account presented by Erica Doss, "The Cultural Origins of Sallman's Imagery," in Icons of American Protestantism, 65-66.)
In 1943 Warner Sallman came to Ebenezer to talk to the Youth Group. During his visit here, he made a chalk drawing of his famous painting of the Head of Christ. The Sallman drawing has been displayed in the Ebenezer parlor since its presentation to the congregation.