Keizer did a later book which I'm now re-reading...The UNwanted Sound: EVERYTHING WE WANT (a Book about Noise) and, in Chapter 2 (The Noise of Political Animals) remarks: "the audible range of BELLS literally sounded one's home and identity (a Cockney, for example, is still defined as anyone born within earshot of the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside...).

That got me to thinking: when our bell is rung on Sundays, what if all within its range found St. Andrew's part of their homes...and identity? Have we ever, in thinking about our outreach, wondered about the complexities of people and families within our bell sound? I also realize how ignorant I am of other bells within the City of Mountain Home. When have you heard them as you get around? Where are they? My Mohawk Valley town, in upstate New York, taught me early to recognize its different church bells. especiallly the bell of the Holy Spirit Polish National Catholic Church, which stands a block south of my old home. Keizer reports that Queen Elizabeth I of England liked the sounds of church bells so much she didn't mind at all if  citizens snuck into the churches and gave the bells an extra peal: she found that a measure of the kingdom's vitality! In my youth, on a break from Boy Scout meetings at the Methodist church, we occasionally crept up to the bell rope and gave the tower bell a quick ring: I don't ever remember clergy or other adults ever running to offer a scolding.

If the calling of bells intrigues you (it is a fascinating music, albeit noisy, take a listen on the internet to the Canadian Broadcasting Co. English language version of THE BELLS OF EUROPE, a documentary German Peter Leonhard Braun produced in the early 1970s: it's an extraordinarily moving piece.

Then, share these words from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 'Christmas Bells' poem, of which Gordon Jacob did a masterful arrangement  in his cantata THE NEWBORN KING. (the choir has sung it at least once).

     "...Then, from each black accursed mouth the canon thundered in the South, and with the sound the carols drowned...of peace on earth, good-will to men!

          It was as if an earthquake rent the hearthstones of a continent, and made forlorn the households born...of peace on earth, goodwill toward men!

          And, in despair, I bowed my head: "There is no peace on earth, I said;

for hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

   

          Then pealed the bells, more loud and deep: "GOD is NOT dead, nor doth he sleep; The WRONG shall FAIL, the RIGHT prevail...with peace on earth, good will to men! (by the way, when this text appears in hymnbooks, the darker verses I began with are frequently omitted...)

Do, in your travels, listen for bells, and share the news of what you find, or your impressions. And, as we close in on the festival of Pentecost, be joyfilled, and look outward for the life and love that are there, for the sharing.

Peace! BILL WEEKS