Liturgy, timeless and endless

Abstract

Sounds and smells play such an important part in daily life. Often unnoticed, they help us shape the patterns of the day - the hum of the motor car, siren of police vehicles, smell of baking bread or coffee freshly roasted, the chime of the clock; all convey an impression which forms a basis for our cultural activity as a people in a place. In the Christian tradition one non-verbal sound that resonated throughout our history and formed a very important link with liturgical life was, and possibly still is, the bell. It is said that Islam deliberately chose the human voice as a call to prayer against the Christian bronze and metal-tongued voice. Throughout Christian culture, bells, and humankind, have linked together to proclaim national events of joy and sorrow, weekly assemblies for worship, tolling the dead, healing a marriage, structuring the day. Even in contemporary society, the sounds of church bells still carry out a task of remembering the presence of God and God's people at work in the world. The sonorous call to a time for prayer reminds us, the hearer, of the timelessness of God's presence and perhaps also the endless nature of Christian faith.