The bell turret at Iden Green Congregational Church
Last week they were up on the chapel roof renovating the little turret. It had become scruffy, in part rotten and leaking rainwater into the chapel. Now it is looking 'the part'.
Looks apart, the small structure houses an important 'instrument'. The bell, which sounds out E flat, was caste at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1999. (It was a wonderful privilege to see the white hot molten metal being poured into the cast – and to think that 'Big Ben' was made on the same premises.)
Every service the bell tolls for twenty minutes followed by an angelus as the service begins. So the inhabitants of the little hamlet of Iden Green are called to worship the Lord. “Come! come! come!” the small bell rings out.
There are some who are irritated by the sound; many enjoy what seems to be a traditional evidence of non-conformity in a rural place, but do not venture out of their homes; a few make their way to the chapel. One Lord's day the wind carries the sound predominantly to the east, and another to the west. It is entirely in the hands of the Lord Himself who hears the summons. Equally it is in His ordering who responds – who accepts the invitation of the tolling, and who accepts the invitation to come to Christ and be saved.
When the legitimacy of Gentile conversion was at issue at the first Jerusalem Council, Peter argued, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.” How amazing it is that God chose the instrument (Peter himself), the hearers, and those who would believe.
Let that E flat successfully summon a people who will serve Christ with lips and lives, worship Him on Sundays and Mondays too.