Oh, The Bells

The bell tower from our window

I love church bells.  In Guatemala we loved hearing the "mad bell ringer" ringing people to prayer.  The bells here in Kandern ring every fifteen minutes, all night long.  Now that we have lived here two years I don't always notice them, but I still love catching that sound.

The Stadt Kirche, the town Lutheran Church, has four large bells hanging in the tower at the front of the church.  One of the bells has hung there since the 1500's. The others were cast in the yard, not one hundred meters from where they now hang, in 2010.   They replaced the last set which had been cast right after World War II.  The originals had been melted down to use as weapons during that war.

Several weeks ago Black Forest Academy held an Impact Day.  All the staff and students formed small groups to go out into the community to clean and assist our town, to make a good impression, as well.

This huge room was above the ceiling of the church.  The girls
worked hard sweeping up lots of dust and dirt!

Imagine my joy when my group and one other was sent to the Lutheran Church to help clean.  But, not just clean anything.  We were sent into the bell tower to sweep years of debris out of the church.  We worked under those lovely bells as they rang away the morning and the beginning of the afternoon.  On the level below the bells hung an owl box, no doubt to keep the rodents at bay.  And the owls left something behind which also needed to be swept away.  We swept all the debris away.

One of the newer bells, dated to commemorate
Kandern's 200th year.

The grounds keeper was so delighted with the newly cleaned tower and floor, he gave us a small replica of the bell as a thank you.  The girls had worked hard, laughed, and encouraged one another.  All of us experienced the joy of helping someone else, and I left thankful for getting up close and personal to the bells of my town!

Now, when I hear those bells gong, I smile.   I helped clean their home.