CAN YOU HEAR IT? LISTEN CAREFULLY….Ssh….THERE IT IS AGAIN…CAN YOU HEAR IT?
RUMBLINGS FROM THE BUNKER – ( a word from the Pastor )
There’s a bell tolling in the distance. I have heard people say it’s a death knell. It’s a sombre bell which some say is signalling the death of the Church. When this is put to people there’s a great range of reaction from ‘ please God that won’t happen’ to ‘that’s good news – it deserves to die!’ There are some people who argue that the Church will never die because it’s the Lord’s Church and he won’t let it die. That said tell that to people all over Europe whose Church has been laid low, to people who once had a very vibrant church community which has now become a spiritual wasteland.
The words of Larkin in Church Going come to mind:
‘ yet stop I did: in fact I often do,
And always end much at a loss like this
Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,
When churches fall completely out of use
What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronically on show,
Their parchment, plate and pyx in locked cases,
And let the rest rent – free to rain and sheep.
Shall we avoid them as unlucky places? ‘
Yes there’s a bell ringing. It seems to be getting stronger. I too thought for a little while that it might be a death knell. I mean there are some signs of dead around. There’s definitely a negative narrative which seems to have got worse since covid. War and famine and a general malaise of discontent seems to prevail. Even though economically as a nation we appear to be doing well, there is still a lot of angst around. Addictions, mental health issues and all sorts of abuses and violence including domestic abuse seem to be more common.
What of the Church in all this? It has been a terrible two weeks for the Church. Surely as well as the pervading sense of shame, our hearts must be broken at all that we have heard to countless little children. So yes I guess we should not be surprised at the bell. The death knell tolling. Couldn’t it well be the death knell of the Church? The words of Donne in For Whom the Bell Tolls comes to mind:
‘ Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee ‘.
If the bell is signalling the death of the Church then should we not busy ourselves preparing the wake and indeed give her a requiem second to none?
And yet I am listening again. I hear the gentle bell again. I listen afresh. I listen with my heart as well as my ears. I listen from the standpoint of the disciple. It’s only then it starts to dawn on me.
There’s a bell tolling alright, but the bell I am hearing is certainly not a death knell. Just then I realised what it was. This was no death knell. This is a call to prayer. This is a distinctive summoning to gather in the Lord’s presence. This is a call to Eucharist, and to Reconciliation. This is our Confirmation.
We are not called to death. The opposite is true: we are called to life. ‘I wish that you would have life, and have it to the full’. Yes, there is a dying alright but make no mistake there is a living – a resurrection! We are being called to the Light. You and I are being called to witness – to usher in the smaller more passionate Church. We are ‘birthing’ the new church. It is of course challenging and we are permitted to be momentarily afraid but not to stay in fear. Listen to the bell. It’s beautiful. It’s calling us to prayer, to a deeper intimacy with Jesus. It’s exciting, it’s beautiful, it’s life giving. We are called to opt for life, for Light. Lumen Christi. Jesus of Nazareth! What an exciting adventure we are on!
Fraternally, JoeMcD. 15.08.24
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