Bell Sunday reflection
My attention has been drawn to a 1996 Central Council publication entitled Belfry Offices by the late Malcom Tyler. It is a booklet containing some suggested prayers that ringers can use either before they begin to ring or on other occasions when ringing takes place.
I read through this excellent booklet but felt that circumstances have changed so much in the last thirty years. I wonder what the reaction would be if some brave tower captain suggested that when everybody had arrived for a practice that a time of prayer and reflection should take place before ringing began. I would guess there would be an embarrassed but stunned silence. I can no remember practice ever beginning with a time for prayer and reflection, although when attempting to ring a peal with the Guild of Clerical Ringers we have prayed before we start. Some might suggest that that was very necessary!
As I read through the prayers I felt a mixture of nostalgia and sadness for an era that has now passed when ringing had far deeper connections with the people who attended church services on a Sunday. I find that when I ring for a Sunday service I am always in a minority of those who leave a little early so that they can join the congregation who will hear the word and share in the sacramental life of the Church. I believe that has been a drift in the relationship between ringing and Church.
My reflection on all this is that ringing is becoming more a secular hobby as the years go by. I appreciate that the Church could be doing more to reach out to its ringers. It is significant that the Bell Sunday initiative has come from the ringing community and not from the Church body.
Surely the time is ripe for a renewal of the relationship between ringers and the Church because we need each other to ensure that bells are rung. This begins, I feel, with the Central Council engaging more energetically with the Church nationally, individual territorial Guilds and Associations engaging with the dioceses and all of us talking to our local church leaders.
ANTHONY ELLIS