Construction is complete on the US Army’s newest chapel facility on Fort Bragg, and the chapel will open in time for holiday services.  The complex, billed as the first chapel built on the base since Vietnam, has a sprawling campus and a main sanctuary that has double the capacity of the Division Memorial Chapel it is intended to replace:

At 22,600 square-feet, the complex includes a worship and activity center, expansion area, gathering area, lobby, clergy and staff offices, baptistery and sacristy suites, meditation and reconciliation room, kitchen, choir room, nursery, and vestibules. With a seating capacity of 629, the new facility is twice as large as the old chapel, which only seats 300. The facility spans 9 acres located off Ardennes Road next to the 82nd Airborne Division Memorial Museum.

The chapel also boasts some significant historical content:

One of the most distinguishing features of the chapel is the seven historical stained glass windows, which were relocated from the 82nd Memorial Chapel and incorporated into the new facility. Each window represents a war in which the 82nd Division fought.

The windows are stunning, though some hypersensitive souls might be offended at the integration of official US Army imagery with religious imagery, including the Archangel Michael and phrases such as

“The LORD Executeth Righteousness and Judgement for all that are Oppressed” (Psalms 103:6)

A new window is supposed to be unveiled at the dedication which will commemorate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The proposed design included Psalm 46:6-7:

In an interesting twist, some (and potentially all) of the stained glass windows are no longer windows.  They’re “stained glass murals” installed in the walls and backlit by (energy efficient) LEDs to “simulate” daylight.

Also at the Stars and Stripes.