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Rainbow snippet - Wild Bells
Nov. 27th, 2016 08:46 pmThe significant day this weekend isn't Black Friday but Advent Sunday! So here's an advent related snippet from one of the stories in Wild Bells.
The bells of St. Archibald’s rang out wildly again – in two days it would be the last Sunday in Advent and St Matthew’s gospel would be being proclaimed, the age old story told once more for anyone who had ears to listen. For those with the wit to look behind the altercations about who had which pew and who set the flowers on the altar for Christmas Day, to the real message that the Christ child brought, then Christmas truly was a season of joy. William pulled the bell rope with renewed vigour, a great smile splitting his face and heart dancing with sheer joie de vivre. He had woken knowing what he had to do and once the peal had finished serenading the icy fields and the barren trees he would be away to do it.
The last change sounded with a booming cascade and the bells fell silent at last. Hawthorne the verger produced a keg of beer, seemingly out of thin air, and all the ringers drank deep. “We’ll not sound the peal again until we’re welcoming the New Year then?”
“Aye,” William took a welcome swig of ale, “the canon likes the bells but he’d prefer Christmas week to be silent. Mr. Newington feels it’s more reflective and I have to agree with him. Advent’s a good time for thinking.”
More excerpts at the Rainbow Snippets group.
The bells of St. Archibald’s rang out wildly again – in two days it would be the last Sunday in Advent and St Matthew’s gospel would be being proclaimed, the age old story told once more for anyone who had ears to listen. For those with the wit to look behind the altercations about who had which pew and who set the flowers on the altar for Christmas Day, to the real message that the Christ child brought, then Christmas truly was a season of joy. William pulled the bell rope with renewed vigour, a great smile splitting his face and heart dancing with sheer joie de vivre. He had woken knowing what he had to do and once the peal had finished serenading the icy fields and the barren trees he would be away to do it.
The last change sounded with a booming cascade and the bells fell silent at last. Hawthorne the verger produced a keg of beer, seemingly out of thin air, and all the ringers drank deep. “We’ll not sound the peal again until we’re welcoming the New Year then?”
“Aye,” William took a welcome swig of ale, “the canon likes the bells but he’d prefer Christmas week to be silent. Mr. Newington feels it’s more reflective and I have to agree with him. Advent’s a good time for thinking.”
More excerpts at the Rainbow Snippets group.
