June, 2002

June, 2002

Fra prestens skrivebord

For Whom the Bell Tolls

I’m sure John Steinbech would excuse me for using his book title on my little article. In fact, he had stolen it himself. The first one to tell me whom he had stolen it from wil receive $5!!!

Mindekirkens bells do 18 strokes a seek, nine strokes at the the end of each service.j The congregation council has now decieded to shime also before the 11:00 service. With earlier compliants from neighbors in mind, we will not chimeas early as 9:00 AM

Why do we chime the bells? What is the liturgical function of church bells in a Lutheran church? The Norwegian altar book says it is: to preach the glory of God

	to gather the people of God to service
	- to call the children of God to prayer and intercession
	- to remind us of the eternal goal of our lives with God in heaven.

In recent years only the 3 x 3 strokes after the blessing have been done. These are meant for prayer, not for counting the strokes. Maybe one could do something in-between: Meditate on the nine fruits of the spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22)

Mindekirken has a 12-note chime system from Deagan in Chicago, installed in 1930. "Deagan Tower Chimes are the finest make of tower chimes ever built. Their walls are thicker, their tone is richer, and their tuning is more accurate than the other makes of tower chimes…. The systems are quite rare." This was written as late as 1997 by Top Rung Tower Chime & Organ Service in Kansas. They did an inspection of Mindekirken’s chimes in 1990. They are interested in restoring our 12-note chime system. They conclude, "The historic significance of these rare and irreplaceable instruments will increase greatly as the years pass."

Maybe we will one day hear beautiful hymns from our church tower again?

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716