Pineridge Blog

When I was young I remember visiting my grandparents in the little town of Slater, Missouri. They lived just a few miles from where I grew up, and so I was with them a lot. Every day during the work-week in Slater exactly at twelve o’clock a whistle would blow to signal the noon hour. I think it was down at the Co-op, but it could easily be heard all over town. Hearing the whistle, my grandfather would always look up and say, “Johnny Rice is on the ball!” In a small town everyone knows everyone, even the whistle blower. I imagine the whistle was actually on some kind of timer, but as a kid I had a clear image of Johnny Rice standing faithfully watching a clock on the Co-op wall every day to know when to pull a wire at the stroke of noon.

Before there were noon whistles, wristwatches or even Johnny Rice, there were bells. Bells in clock towers that rang to tell people what time it was. Bells that were rung to signal good news. And even before that there were bells in churches to call people to prayer.

In the ancient Catholic Mass when the priest lifts up the bread and cup and prays that they become the body and blood of Christ, a bell rings to signal the presence of the Holy.

With Santa and Jingle Bells it is easy to forget that that the many bells we see and hear this time of year are really for more than simple decoration.

May every bell you hear this holy season call your attention to the great Good News, the birth announcement from God of the birth of a Messiah at Christmas. May every bell rung at a red Salvation Army kettle, tied to a package, played in church even rung in school to mark the end of classes (if they even still have bells) be a re-minder or that the Word of God has been made flesh for us at Christmas.

I hope that you will join me in a new tradition this year. At 6:00 p.m. Christmas Eve you are invited to go outside and ring a bell. May the music of bells encourage the celebration for you and your neighbors in this crazy COVID Christmas. May the bells be a re-minder to all who hear of the birth of Christ and know the presence of the Holy One.