A new glass cross, designed and built by former DaySpring Executive Director Mike Rivera, is now installed across the Curry Hall pond at DaySpring Episcopal Center. The cross, which was placed across the lake at the encouragement of Bishop Dabney Smith, is made from the same glass used in the outdoor chapel at DaySpring.

Rivera, DaySpring Director from 1982-1989, built the Outdoor Chapel in 1989 from leftover glass from the windows of St. Thomas Chapel at DaySpring. Historic St. Thomas Chapel is the former original Church of the Holy Spirit in Safety Harbor. The original window glass was too dark for the wooded DaySpring campus, and the glass was saved. Not all the glass was needed however, and it was housed at the DaySpring storage shed.

Rivera says that the glass is not truly stained glass; instead it is thicker and more robust “facet” glass, which is one inch thick and far less delicate. It was not suitable for the St. Thomas Chapel when it moved to DaySpring in 1988, as the shade made it “so dark we couldn’t see.” In its place were created new, lighter clear and stained windows dedicated by individual donors.

Facet glass, Rivera says, is seen at some parishes in the Diocese including Holy Innocents’ Valrico, where bright sun streams through the thick glass and leaves colors from the light.

The cross is one of a number of small appointments added to the DaySpring campus in recent months and after the completion of the Program Center and Pool, including a new altar built by Christ Church parishioner Aaron Welch.