February 2012

My dear Friends            

 

As many of you will know, a large group of us will be travelling to the Holy Land next month on pilgrimage. If you have ever visited an eastern country with mixed Muslim and Christian populations, you will know that at midday, above the hubbub of the streets, a further din is heard.

From the towers of places of worship surmounted by a Crescent comes the voice of the Muezzin (‘the Proclaimer’) calling the faithful to prayer. At the same time, from the towers of those places of worship surmounted by a cross, comes the dinging of a bell:  3, pause; 3, pause; 3, pause; 9. This is also proclaiming something, a message 600 years older than Mohammed - that there is one true God, and Jesus Christ is the one sent (John xvii 3).

This is the message represented by that midday bell, and which also rings at St. John’s morning and evening. This devotion in honour of the Incarnation, we call the ‘the Angelus’ and it gets its name from the opening words: ‘Angelus Domini’  -  the angel of the Lord.

1.  The angel of the Lord brought a message     Luke i 26-27

    for Mary, and she conceived by the Holy Spirit.      Matt i 20

2.  Here I am, the Lord’s servant;      Luke i 38

    As you have spoken, so be it.

3.  And the word became flesh,      John i 14

     and dwelt among us.

The ringing of these bells signifies to the community that the Christian church is alive and well and is bearing witness. The ringing of such bells dates back to the year 420 when bells were introduced to Christian worship, and, in England, St. Dunstan (924-88) was known to give bells to churches himself for this purpose.

This is part of our mission here at St. John’s, a mission to bear witness to the community in which we live.

 

With my best wishes and prayers.

                    Fr. John.