Can you read? It seems like a simple question, but it depends on the context. Reading the words on a page of a newspaper requires different skills than reading and understanding a cartoon or a comic book.

These heavily visual methods of communication require the reader to recognize the reappearing characters and to follow a story line that is told in little pieces.

For much of Christian history, many of Jesus’ followers have not been literate people. They relied on the stories they were told orally, and they repeated them.

They also relied on symbols painted on the walls of catacombs or house churches, and mosaics installed in the ceilings. These images expressed important ideas about their connection to the rich heritage of the Hebrew people; they used symbolism to convey theological concepts about the kingdom of heaven.

During the Middle Ages, the churches of Europe began using the Gothic style to make their windows larger and larger, providing more and more space to use the new technology of stained glass to create visual masterpieces that tell the Gospel stories.

Natchez is home to a wealth of historic churches who carry on this tradition. As part of its special contemplative offerings during the winter seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, Trinity Episcopal Church is offering an 11-week series of special classes focusing on each of the great narrative windows in the nave of the church.

These windows tell stories of the life and death narrative of Jesus, they communicate some of Jesus’s parables about the kingdom of heaven, and they point to the riches of eternal life.

The Trinity windows draw on scripture from all four Gospels, from Acts, and from the book of Revelations. Their installation spanned about 80 years, from the 1880s through the 1960s.

The Jacoby Art Glass Company, the J. & R. Lamb Studio, Willet Studios and the greats John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany — all contributed windows to Trinity Church, Natchez.

I served as senior warden of the parish about 10 years ago when the Pearl River Stained Glass Studio in Jackson undertook the renovation of the giant altar window at Trinity by La Farge that illustrates the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven.

This window has had a difficult life, because shortly after its installation a house was built right behind the church that blocked virtually all natural light from the window – but thanks to the ingenuity of Andy Young and his staff at PRSG, the window is now brilliantly lit from behind and made visible in all its glory.

Please rouse yourself early on Sunday mornings, beginning on Dec. 9, and meet me in the nave of the church at 8:30 a.m. for this 30-minute class that will teach you to “read” these spectacular windows. Or — even better — come at 7:30 a.m. for our early service. All are welcome.

Kathleen Bond, who trained as an art historian, is a parishioner at Trinity Episcopal Church. For more information, call the parish office at 601-445-8432 or visit www.trinitynatchez.org.