Across the world today inside and outside churches bells have been ringing, drums have been beating 350 times. Here are friends outside Geneva's Lutheran Church in the heart of the old town ringing handbells for climate justice while all around the festivities of Escalade continued.
In the small french Protestant Church in Orange the bells rang out. The pastor there is Caspar Visser 't Hooft. Like many others across the world he was taking part in a global action but in his local church. His grandfather W. A. Visser 't Hooft was the first general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the body organising the campaign. In Copenhagen the bells of the cathedral rang out as the ecumenical service drew to a close. The bells were saying - don't try to tell us a different story - don't sell the earth off cheap. Our great grandchildren will also need air to breathe and water to drink.
Many more stories will no doubt come in over the next few days about how people acted locally to show they were thinking globally.
Let the bells ring out for climate justice.
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Escalade bellringing
Publié par Jane à l'adresse 21:03
Libellés : campaigns, environment
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3 Comments:
We also range hand bells at Stainland and Holywell Green URC in Calderdale, West Yorkshire. Ours were the 'jingle bell' sort as we ningled along to our bell song with a rang of global sounds.
I did see a few really nice feedback emails come in: One, written in Spanish, came from a group of nuns in India (including 2 Spanish and a Filipina sister) who said they rang 350 chimes and prayed for a good outcome of the Copenhagen summit. Another from a small town in England, if I remember correctly, saying that a group gathered in prayer around the bellringer ringing their single bell 350 times - and he's just 12 years old! (The report didn't include any mention of muscle ache...)
And the participation of the UK's biggest carillon with 48 bells was reported from Scotland. Some congregation in Canada apparently made up for not having any bell at their disposal by sounding 350 strokes on pans and pots in front of their church.
Ah, I wish I had the time to write a story about this!
Wow it sounds really brilliant! I wish you had time to write a story about this as well - I had an email today to say that the church of the holy family on the Blackbird Leys Estate in Oxford rang its bells - it has been really successful!
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