The stained-glass window — an image of Jesus standing before a multi-ethnic crowd — shone at night, glowing from within Fourth Avenue Church in Brooklyn, New York like a visible witness to the community https://fourthavenuepresbyterian.org/.
And when the 25-by-12 foot stained glass window catapulted out early on the morning of August 8, dropping two stories and shattering on the sidewalk below, not a single person was hit. It was about 6:15 a.m., the start of the morning waltz to work, on a busy block just a block and a half from a subway stop.
That sidewalk is “incredibly busy in the mornings,” said Fourth Avenue’s pastor, David Aja-Sigmon. “People should have been going to work. … No one was hurt. Thank God.”
The tornado smashed about 10 blocks of Brooklyn in a brief, intense spasm.
Aja-Sigmon said a meteorologist told him that the wind broke through three side windows in the sanctuary, gathered force “and built up such pressure in the sanctuary that if we didn’t have the stained glass window (at the front), it would have popped off the roof.”
The congregation, now with 83 members, was founded as a Syrian church about 100 years ago and moved to its current site in Brooklyn in the 1950s. Each of the pews has a name on it. Aja-Sigmon said each family built the pews with their hands.
With the move, some Scottish people showed up; worship changed from Arabic to English; the Syrian name was dropped in favor of the Fourth Avenue name. The congregation is now about 60 percent Syrian, along with a big mix of other ethnicities; over the past two years, the congregation has grown by 16 members.
“We’re full of good energy,” Aja-Sigmon said, but “we’re a little overwhelmed and worried” about what it will cost to repair the damage from the tornado. One informal estimate measured the value of the large window at $300,000, but no official word has been received yet from the insurance company.
“It’s really hard to put a number on it,” Aja-Sigmon said. “It has emotional value for these families. There are memories. These are people who have tried to say something as immigrants and immigrants of faith about what’s important. What’s important is making a house of prayer that all people can come to.”
Some who’ve come to show their support include those involved with Fourth Avenue’s outreach programs — including families from an interfaith children’s chorus whose members include Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
“At this church, we have five different continents represented with 83 members,” Aja-Sigmon said. We have people from all over.”
And for the community, “this window was something they saw every day when they came home from work. It meant a lot to them.”
While he grieves the loss of the window, however, Aja-Sigmon worries more about neighbors whose homes were damaged. He tells of homes whose roofs were ripped off and families sleeping in Red Cross shelters.
“Our prayers and thoughts go out to them,” Aja-Sigmon said. “We can replace glass. We’ll find a way to continue this church.”
