Church selling Tiffany window

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — For almost 100 years, the multicolored image of St. John the Divine has gazed down from a stained-glass window in the choir loft of First Baptist Church.

“When you see the sunlight coming through it on a Sunday morning, it’s just spectacular,” said church member Karen Davis, 59.

Now, the church may have to cash in on the value of the window — a Tiffany original.

Strapped for cash because of declining donations, attendance and collection-plate revenues, church leaders voted recently to seek bids and sell the 9-foot-tall, 33-inch-wide window, using the proceeds to sustain the church and a wintertime homeless shelter it runs in its fellowship room.

Church leaders are torn by the prospect of losing the window but believe it’s the right thing to do if it keeps the church and shelter open. They’re down to their last $8,000.

“No one wants to see this Tiffany go,” said the Rev. Suzanne Andrews, the pastor. “But when it came down to the question of do we sell the Tiffany to keep our doors open for the ministry of God, then the decision became quite clear to all of us, that this Tiffany window — as beautiful as it is — is a material thing.”

Churches of all denominations have been hit by the recession and have responded in various ways.

“Probably the largest thing churches have done is terminated positions, frozen salaries, reduced benefits, and some have even stopped making retirement-benefit payments,” said Phill Martin, deputy CEO for the National Association of Church Business Administration.

“Most churches, like this one, are more concerned about maintaining their ministry and their involvement in the community than they are about their own specific needs about buildings and staff,” Martin said.

But he said the First Baptist Church’s plan to sell the window is the most extreme measure he’s heard about.

The cavernous, 19th-century stone building, whose 140-foot spire rises above the middle of Main Street in this southern Vermont town, is struggling with rising expenses and falling revenues. Last year, it cost $34,000 just to heat the place, and roof repairs are needed.

The 88-member congregation’s attendance at Sunday services has dropped to about 35 people in recent years.

Hoping to cut costs, the church’s trustees voted last February to make the Rev. Ms. Andrews a part-time minister and to lay off sexton George Goulet, the only other full-time church staffer. Now, some of the homeless men who flock to the church to stay warm — the program runs from Thanksgiving to spring — clean the toilets and vacuum the red carpeting.

Last month, trustees voted 20-4 to take bids on the window.

The decision was wrenching.

The Roman arch-style window shows St. John the Divine, a book in his left hand — presumably the Bible — and a blue sky and water behind him, in the distance. It is signed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, a scion of the New York jewelry house Tiffany & Co., who dominated the stained-glass business in America in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Parting with the window will be difficult for parishioners.

“I voted for it, but in my heart it’s a memorial window in memory of some people who did a lot for this church,” said trustee Sylvia Seitz, 76, of Guilford, who’s attended the church since 1969. “It’s more important to keep the church going, even without the window. But it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”

Others see the vote as something to celebrate, saying it represents the sacrifice of something material for a greater spiritual good — benefiting the poor.