Two Turtledoves

        Have you ever wondered why bells are associated with Christmas? This is probably one of my favourite associations in the European Christmas tradition. Songs have been written, ballads have been performed, plays have been promoted, stories have been told, and bells have somehow wormed themselves into panoply of Christmas attendants.

         Why? Because around the time of the middle ages when a lot of the Christmas traditions that we celebrate today were getting started, bells were a huge component of people's every day life. Bells were used to announce a wedding, a birth, a death, or to welcome an important personage into town. They were used to warn of an approaching enemy, to sound an alarm for a fire or other natural, or man-made disaster, they were used to indicate the passing of time, as well as herald holidays and celebrations. 

         In fact, if you find yourself in Oxford, England on a Sunday, you will find that church bells still play a large part in the day there, and I still remember the time I got to hear change ringing for the first time in real life while there. (By the by, if you don't like change ringing, well, it's an acquired taste, but all I can say is, you're missing out!)

         Because of this I think bells are a very fitting symbol for Christmas. In this case it's an annunciation of the coming of The King. A very important personage, to be sure, but not in the way one might think, and not with all the pomp and circumstance that would have hailed the entrance of a king in olden times. No, his birth was humble, ignominious even. He was first visited by shepherds, the lowest of the low at that time in Jewish society, and his parents certainly weren't well to do. Mary and Joseph brought the poor man's offering to the temple; two turtledoves, rather than a lamb. 

        And yet, I do like to think of the heavenly bells still ringing, just not all had ears to hear them. The idea that in heaven there was rejoicing, even if earthly hearts were too dull to comprehend it. The heavenly host praised God and rejoiced at His birth, and at least some of the shepherds got it, since it says that they went on their way rejoicing after they visited the infant Christ. 

        Imagine if we could have heard the bells of heaven ring that night, metaphorically speaking, that would have been a sound to carry with us the rest of our lives. It's a good placeholder in our minds to help us remember exactly what Jesus's birth means to all of us who belong to Him: Freedom from sin, eternal life, and adoption as sons of God. That's worth ringing all the bells for, don't you think?

        Since I freely acknowledge myself to be a John Rutter addict, I chose something by him for today's carol. It's simply lovely. This is one where he wrote the words as well and I've quite fallen in love with it as I have most of his other pieces. Let me know what you think.