Why ring?
Sometimes I have to take stock of myself and ask myself the question: ‘Why do I ring?’ Several things can trigger this self-examination. Maybe the ringing at practice night wasn’t really very good. A new method or composition I tried to call didn’t work out. Maybe I didn’t ring as well as I might have and I have sense of dissatisfaction. So, the question arises, ‘Come on, Bill, why are you ringing? Why do you spend time doing this?’
The answer comes in various forms: I ring for enjoyment; I ring because it’s a service to the Church; I ring for a sense of achievement; I ring to help others progress; I ring to meet other people. All this sounds rather worthy, but it roots me and helps me get over those niggles common to all human endeavours. And so I carry on.
Why am sharing this with you? Because we’re now a little way into the Church’s season of Lent. Lent is an opportunity to ask a self-examining question wider than the one about ringing. It’s an opportunity to look at oneself in the broadest context. A good question that is not always patient of an immediate answer is ‘What’s really important to me in my life?’
At the beginning of Lent the Church’s liturgy proposes a set of practices: self-examination, penitence, study, and alms-giving. These will help in finding an answer to that big question, ‘What’s really important to me?’ The process is going to involve God, my neighbour, and myself; forty days, the length of Lent, are given to this. You might think that’s a long time but it’s worth remembering that Lent is only a preparation – a preparation for Easter. Significantly, Easter is longer than Lent: fifty days long. The season of preparation yields to the longer, joyous season. Preparation is not an end itself and endless self-examination is self-indulgent. Easter is about living the fullness of life, the life God has created for everyone to enjoy. For the ringer that will involve ringing. Let’s do it!
Canon BILL CROFT
(Retired)