I have been in a couple of churches where God’s creation is used in place of stained glass or a wall at the back of the sanctuary. I find these churches to be surprisingly awe inspiring. Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of the interiors of either of them. I have included exterior pictures of them.
The first one is St. Francis of Assisi in Incline Village, NV. With the exterior of this one, you have to keep in mind that Incline Village has very strict building standards that make it hard to build what most consider a tradition church. When you walk into this church you see the sanctuary, which is towered over by a giant, for the size of the church, crucifix. The cross part of the crucifix divides a floor to ceiling clear glass window into four quadrants. This window overlooks the tops of pine trees and frames the crystal clear waters of Lake Tahoe.
The second one is Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Bishop, CA. The parish is in a fairly poor area of California (median household income $27,338), so the exterior and most of the interior is nothing to write home about. However, as you walk into the church you see a crucifix hanging ceiling over the alter. Behind the crucifix, taking up the upper half of the sanctuary wall, is a plate glass window. This window frames the snow capped (covered in winter) peaks of the Sierra Nevadas.
