On the Ringing of A Bell

Has the ringing of a bell ever taken you by surprise? Our twenty-first century sentiments are not accustomed to bells ringing – at least not large, forged “grand” bells such as those that once graced city halls, schools, and church towers. Certainly we are familiar with electronic “bells” and whistles and whizzes and whirzzes barking intrusively from the throats of electronic devices. Sadly, the dulcet tones of the “grand” bells cease to break the din of our daily lives.

Not long ago, hearing a bell ringing was as normal as rising from a night’s sleep. At one time, bells rang from every church signifying the gathering of the community for divine service. As laborers in the fields of medieval Europe sowed seeds, the sounding of the church bell marked the progression of the Holy Hours and was a call for people to stop, listen, and pray. Now, one is pressed to find a bell ringing from a church’s tower on the rarest of occasions.

As I sat in a chapel chair this morning surrounded by the heavy wall stones, I was awakened by the ringing of the church’s bell. One part of St. Mary’s worship life that I appreciate is the ringing of the church bell before every divine service. Though I have yet to see this bell I can only imagine its size owing to the deep, boisterous reverberations that journey forth with each passing ring. We don’t just give it a ring or two. No. There is respectable period when the bell awakens our area as if to say, “We are here. The body of Christ has gathered. Come and join.”

Owing in part to my background in British Literature, my mind quickly leaped to that most famous of phrases, “For whom the bell tolls.” Coming back to my office, I quickly found a copy of John Donne’s words and reread them.

"No man is an iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee...."
-- John Donne, Meditation 17 “Devotions upon Emergent Occasions” (1624)

So many familiar lines flooded my mind: “No man is an island” and of course “It tolls for thee.” Stark. Powerful. All encompassing. As I now reflect upon these words, the Christian responsibility that is noted here cannot be ignored. How true the statement: “no [person] is an Island entire of itself.” The Christian witness is a witness of the community comprised of faithful individuals. To be a follower of Christ is to truly realize that we are not individual islands floating around in a sea of self-centeredness. We are the body of Christ each endowed with gifts of the Spirit that, when joined together with the gifts of others, impacts this world in which we live in a most powerful and Christ-centered way.

As Donne’s lines speaks of the tolling of a bell as reminding him of his mortality, the tolling of the bell also reminds us that we have an obligation to the World to share Christ’s love in this world. The bells ring for us. The bells call to us. Share the Love of Christ today. And all this from the simple ringing of a Church bell.

-- The Reverend Grant Ambrose, St. Mary's, Arlington