How beautiful are the sounds of church bells. From high atop a tower that is their home, they proclaim tidings of great importance. In some places, they faithfully announce the hours of the day. At other places they cheerfully declare that it is time for the church service to begin. Occasionally they toll the solemn message that someone who has died is being laid to rest.
On the Wednesdays of the Easter season, the bells of the Arvella Schuller Carillon announce the joy of the season from the majestic Crean Tower on the Christ Cathedral campus. Beginning at 12:40 p.m. until 1:00 p.m., through the skill and heartfelt playing of carillonneur Melissa Weidner, the 52 bells of the carillon sound with the triumphant music of the Easter season. They proclaim with all Christians that Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead. The power of sin and death has been destroyed. Our sins have been forgiven. We have the promise of eternal life. Our lives are made new. Our world is transformed through the power of God in the resurrected Jesus.
The bells of Easter are a reminder that as Christians, we can be like Easter bells in the world. Bells proclaiming that our sins do not have to get the best of us. Bells announcing that new lives and a new world are possible because of the victory of Jesus’ resurrection over sin and death. Unlike bells that stay high above it all in a tower, the Easter bells of our lives ring right in the midst of everything that happens with a message of hope through it all. With the clarity of Easter bells, we live with the conviction and clear message that our lives are rooted in Jesus whose love changes everything. Like Easter bells that ring faithfully every Wednesday of this Easter season, we are summoned to be faithful disciples that Jesus can count on.
How beautiful are Easter lives lived with hope, clarity and faithfulness. How beautiful are the sounds of Easter bells!
Together in faith,
Fr. Tuyen Nguyen, Vice-Rector Fr. Christopher Smith, Rector