I've been thinking about church as practice - the seasons of Lent and Advent are about preparing for the holy days of Easter and Christmas, of course, but they should also be about preparing for the real times in our lives when we have to wait, or go without. Churches should be modeling these things. Right now in Switzerland all public events are cancelled except church services. It's so messed up. Listening to the church bells every Sunday and knowing that I've made a conscious decision not to go to church - even though I'd like to and even though it's happening - is hard. And listening to the bells go nuts just before midnight the 31st is going to be hard too, because we'll still have some months to go before things get better.
So anyway, this song/poem is clearly meant for New Year's Eve, but like the people who insist that going to church is the thing to do right now, it didn't want to wait. Please, can we let all this die?
Ring Out, Wild Bells - Alana Levandoski (and yes, I realize there are fancier versions than this, but I'm not feeling fancy)
In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells] - Alfred Lord Tennyson
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Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace. |
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