Our place is usually quiet, or at least filled with predictable sounds!
But I heard a distinct new sound; a mellow, tonal, reverberating dong like a huge bell ringing.
What was it?
The ringing continued, slowly, rhythmically, ponderously filling the air and drawing my attention.
The new thing going on around our home was the building to replace the bridge on Highway 51 down the road a few miles from us. We drove down to look. I have to admit, we enjoyed watching the progress change. The large squarish steel poles had been delivered to the site. Tall, powerful cranes had lifted them up and over to the correct placement on the bank of the creek.
Our little mystery was solved. As we heard the resounding “bong” we looked and realized the sound are from the steel foundation being driven into the ground.
Over and over, the steel to hold up the ends of the bridge were heavily pounded deeper into the soil.
Over and over, the sound of what reminded me of a sound I half a world away rang out over the Mississippi land.
In Japan, where I was happy to call home for two years as I worked with Baptist Japanese churches and taught in schools, I lived in a normal neighborhood. There were Buddhist temples scattered all around.
I learned of a Buddhist tradition on New Year’s Eve as I was amazed at hearing the pound sonorous ring of a bell beginning at midnight. The bell continued to ring out 108 times!
The bells ring out linking the past and the future, reminding people of the Buddhist belief of cleansing from the 108 “worldly passions,” the things we want and desire that cause suffering and hurt spiritual lives (National Bell Festival, bells.org, online).
The bells ring, the bells sound fills the air, the bells build a bridge from the past year containing sin and damage to the new year holding possibilities of hope and renewal.
I always thought I would need more than 108 rings to cover the number of my sins of commission and omission during a year.
We need more than meditation on our sins! We need a bridge to God of forgiveness! We need to claim the bridge Jesus Christ made on the cross as He died taking on the punishment for our sins so He could offer us the free gift of salvation. Our faith reaching out to His Grace!
“But God shows His love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Confess your sins to God and have forgiveness ring through your heart and life!
Ring the bell of salvation through Christ Jesus!
