{"id":1915,"date":"2014-05-23T20:29:48","date_gmt":"2014-05-24T00:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=1915"},"modified":"2014-07-07T15:04:59","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T19:04:59","slug":"blast-from-the-past-hazel-stiles-and-the-stand-at-the-door-window","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=1915","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Hazel Stiles and the &#8220;Stand at the Door&#8221; Window"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As we enter a time of transition from one pastor to the next, we pause to reflect on the history of our church and on the heritage that God has supplied us with.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ChapelWin-StandAtDoor_7059.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1201 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ChapelWin-StandAtDoor_7059-136x300.jpg\" alt=\"ChapelWin-StandAtDoor_7059\" width=\"136\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ChapelWin-StandAtDoor_7059-136x300.jpg 136w, https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ChapelWin-StandAtDoor_7059.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 136px) 100vw, 136px\" \/><\/a>In the chapel there is a stained glass window showing Jesus standing at the door and knocking.\u00a0 The window depicts Revelation 3:20 where Jesus tells the church in Laodicea,<\/p>\n<address>&#8220;<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Here I am!\u00a0 I stand at the door and knock.\u00a0 If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.&#8221;<\/span><\/address>\n<p>This window was one of the windows that survived the fire that destroyed our old church building in December of 2003.\u00a0 This window (and the other two that are with it in our current chapel) was located in the rear of the sanctuary, along the Holly Ave. wall.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Hazel B. Stiles<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If you look at the bottom of the window you&#8217;ll see an inscription saying that the window was given by Class 22 in honor of Hazel B. Stiles.\u00a0 The inscription is cropped out of this picture.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Class 22 was women&#8217;s Sunday School class which met for many years.\u00a0 To say it was a &#8220;Sunday School Class&#8221; actually minimizes its impact on the many women who were members of this group over the years.\u00a0 It was a &#8220;small group,&#8221; support group, service group&#8230; a very active arm of the church life.<\/p>\n<p>Hazel Stiles was one of the many yet hard working dedicated teachers who led Class 22.\u00a0 She was its teacher for 33 years!<\/p>\n<p>On Easter morning in 1941, it was announced that this window was to be given to the church in honor of Hazel Stiles.\u00a0 In a church history book printed in 1985,\u00a0 Hazel wrote the following recollection of this event:<\/p>\n<div class='et-box et-bio'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class='et-box-content'><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In 1927, Class 22 was without its teacher (Harold Selfridge) due to a change in his daily work.\u00a0 It was at that time the members invited me to become their teacher.\u00a0 I accepted the invitation and continued as such for the next 33 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What a wonderful group to work with, those happy and contented years- the Lord truly blessed us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">One of their projects, however, stands out in my mind.\u00a0 In the Easter morning service on April 13, 1941, Reverend Guice called me to the platform.\u00a0 When I joined him in the pulpit he said, &#8220;The members of Class 22 have given in your honor the stained glass window in the rear of the sanctuary, &#8220;Behold I stand at the Door and Knock.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I cannot recall my response, because I felt so humble before my friends. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Is it any wonder Class 22 is very dear to me?\u00a0 What happiness and comfort they have brought down through the years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8211; Hazel B. Stiles<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">About 40 years later, on October 26, 1980, Miss Stiles was honored as a &#8220;Golden Year Member&#8221; (someone who was a member of the church for 50 years).\u00a0 The following picture shows Hazel being congratulated by Ed Blackman (who recently passed away and joined Hazel on the other side of heaven&#8217;s &#8220;door.&#8221;)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1917\" style=\"width: 389px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/History-p26-HazelStiles-EdBlackman_10-26-80_500w.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1917\" class=\" wp-image-1917\" src=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/History-p26-HazelStiles-EdBlackman_10-26-80_500w-300x208.jpg\" alt=\"Hazel Stiles, Golden Year Member receiving congratulations from Ed Blackman. October 26, 1980.\" width=\"379\" height=\"263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/History-p26-HazelStiles-EdBlackman_10-26-80_500w-300x208.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/History-p26-HazelStiles-EdBlackman_10-26-80_500w.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 379px) 100vw, 379px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1917\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hazel Stiles, Golden Year Member receiving congratulations from Ed Blackman. October 26, 1980.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we enter a time of transition from one pastor to the next, we pause to reflect on the history of our church and on the heritage that God has supplied us with. In the chapel there is a stained glass window showing Jesus standing at the door and knocking.\u00a0 The window depicts Revelation 3:20 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,8],"tags":[64,98,106],"class_list":["post-1915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-churchhistory","category-godprints","tag-churchbuilding","tag-churchfamily","tag-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1915"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1938,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915\/revisions\/1938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}