itsawonderfilledlife

I fondly remember the bell being rung at the church I attended as I was growing up.

Each Sunday morning at a specified time, someone would knock at the door of my Sunday School class. When the door was opened an apology for interrupting would be whispered as the man would walk toward the spot where the bell was rung.

bong, bong, bong …

I do not remember how many times it was rung, just how it’s sound reverberated in my heart.

Church bells are not rung in cities, towns or villages as they once were. Alerts to the time of day, time to worship, have been replaced by watches, clocks, phones.

Yet, when I hear church bells (the real ones, that require a human ‘ringer’) today they take me back to that Sunday School class, as though the lessons learned were burned into my heart with each strike of the clapper on the inside of the bell. Lessons about submitting our life to Christ, loving one another, caring for others, honesty, commitment.

Those bell ringing memories hold another lesson …

Worship the Lord! Sing praises to Him.

That lesson reverberates in my mind in a song I remember, from when our kids were younger and we would be curled up on the sofa, with blankets and popcorn, lights out, to watch Little Women. Somehow this song, this carol written over 200 years ago, has stuck with me as one that herald’s the season of advent … with great and simple joy.

Ding dong, merrily on high
In heaven the bells are ringing
Ding dong, verily the sky
Is riven with angel singing
Ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong
(Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis)
Ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong
(Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis)
E’en so here below, below
Let steeple bells be swungen
And io, io, io
By priest and people sungen
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis
Ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong
(Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis)
Pray you, dutifully prime
Your matin chime, ye ringers
May you beautifully rime
Your eve time song, ye singers
Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis
Ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong
(Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis)
GloriaDing dong, dong, ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong
(Hosanna in excelsis)
Ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong
(Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis)
Ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong, ding dong, dong
(Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis)