Church Bells

As I write this - at 10:19am - the church bells are ringing in the distance.  I'm sitting inside a coffee shop, and the reason I can even hear the bells is because the doors of the place are open: the barristo burnt my breakfast panini.  The smell of burnt bread permeates the place.

The point of today's post is that one of the things I love about Moose Jaw is that while not being any more nor less religious than other Canadian cities, there seems to be a residual appreciation for tradition here.  One example of this is that older brick buildings from a bygone era are not only intact, but well taken care of, looking great.  None of this tearing them down stuff and building something "new and improved" that's so evident in Vancouver.

Another example is the ringing of church bells on Sunday mornings.  I noticed it first on Easter Sunday in April, when on the way to church I heard beautiful Easter music streaming from the tower of a large church nearby.  Five minutes and 5 blocks later, as I approached my church, the sound of the hymns faded in the distance, and the sound of church bells intensified.  At that time I thought "This is great!  Easter in Moose Jaw!"

But since then I've been pleasantly surprised by - and indeed, have become accustomed to - the ringing of church bells on a weekly basis by local churches.

The priest at my parish recently also began ringing the bells on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursday mornings and afternoons, to mark the beginning of Morning and Evening prayer.  He said to me that the purpose of ringing these bells is to "remind those who cannot attend the appointed prayer times at church that they can still pray in whatever context they find themselves in, in the quietness of their own hearts."  

How cool is that: the church bells remind us that whether we're working or grocery shopping, banking, sipping a coffee, or walking to/from work (that's usually the case with me, and the bells always remind me that I'm a bit late for work!), we can approach God in praise, thanksgiving, and supplication at any time.

I asked him if he ever gets phone calls to complain about the bell-ringing.  He responds "No, actually, I've had a few phone calls where people call and say that they appreciate the sound of the bells; and interestingly, some of the people that call are not even people of faith."

So, I'm not certain why traditions such as bell-ringing continue here, whereas in bigger cities they fall by the wayside, but whatever the case may be, I find it refreshing.  Ring on...