The windows to be dedicated are the Good Shepherd, Christmas and Epiphany, Easter and Pentecost, Lent, Ordinary Time and Advent. The public is invited to The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd on Sunday for an open house and dedication.

In the clear light of Sunday, The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd wants the public to see its windows of inspiration.

You could also call them windows of dedication. The windows, designed and created by artist Barbara Flowerday Golberg, open the interior of the church at 1100 Mary Lane, in Webster City, to the light of day.

To those who peer through them, they portray some of the very crucial stories on which Christianity is based and the very real memories of the people for whom they are meant to honor.

The public is invited to the church on Sunday for an open house and dedication signalling the completion of the last six stained glass windows.

This event will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Rev. Kristine Leaman, from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Fort Dodge, will dedicate the windows at noon.

The windows to be dedicated are the Good Shepherd, Christmas and Epiphany, Easter and Pentecost, Lent, Ordinary Time and Advent.

The project was started in 2010 and was completed this year.

Golberg’s first window is an octagon above the altar. The second window is a 10-foot cross at the back of the church. Both windows were cut into the church walls. Loran Seiser installed the windows and assisted her with ideas, according to Joan Haberman, a church parishioner. She did substantial biblical research on the symbols of the liturgical seasons of the Episcopal Church, Haberman said.

The first window Golberg designed, the window above the altar, it referred to as the “Jan Marvel” window. It was donated by Tom and Judy McLaughlin. Marvel was McLaughlin’s mother who passed in 2009.

Golberg’s second window, the 10-foot cross, was created in the wake of two passings — that of Golberg’s husband, Lynn, and Mark Whaley. “This is a memorial window to them,” Golberg said.

After that, the first of the six memorial windows to be completed was the Good Shepherd window in 2017, in memory of Barbara Ann Hosack.

The Christmas and Epiphany window was completed in 2018. It was purchased anonymously and dedicated to the Glory of God and all the children. On the Christmas side of the window are the three wise men and the shepherd with his sheep looking at the rays of light coming from the star over the manger; there are also rays from the star shining on Jesus lying in the manger.

On the Epiphany side are a baptismal fount, a cross symbolizing Jesus, the dove symbolizing God the Father, a baptismal shell and the Paschal candle, signifying new life with baptism.

The third memorial window is the Easter and Pentecost window, created in 2019 and given by the Haberman family.

The Lenten window was installed in 2020 and given to the church by the McLaughlin family.

The fifth memorial window was installed in 2022 and represents Ordinary Time, that time where Jesus and His Apostles taught and spread the teachings of Christ.

These first five memorial windows are 7 feet long.

Due to the entrance to the church, the sixth and last window is shorter. It is called the Advent window, which was given by Deb Leksell.

“Every time I finish one and put it in, it’s my favorite,” Golberg said late last year when she first talked about her work, “and I wasn’t really sure about that one (the Advent window), because to me it seems plain. And then when I got it in here, I thought, ‘Oh, it just completes the whole church.'”