The Summons

Eisenach, Germany

If you travel to Germany you had better enjoy church bells. Every hour, every half hour and every quarter hour the church bells ring.  In Lutherstadt-Wittenberg they rang 24 hours a day. Luckily that was not the case in Eisenach as a Roman Catholic church was across the street from our hotel (though I believe it did start ringing at 6:00 am).

It is interesting that these bells ring from the churches, not the town hall, not places of business, but churches.

"I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:32 English Standard Version

Every hour, every half hour, every quarter hour and every minute Jesus' call is a summons to repentance. That sounds harsh to our human ears, yet repentance is a call to freedom and liberty.

Repentance is not whipping our backs until we draw blood because we're terrible people. It is the gift of letting go of our failure to do what God has commanded. Repentance is the gift of letting go of all that we have done in rebellion against God because repentance believes in the mercy of Christ and his gift of forgiveness.

The only reason we hear the summons to repentance is because we believe in the absolute, unconditional forgiveness of all the garbage of our lives.

For whom does the bell toll?  It tolls for thee!  And that is a good thing.

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(Click on picture to enlarge.)

Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2013 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.