Three Bells and All is Well

The last Thursday of every month, people from the local Lutheran church prepare and offer a free meal to all who come.  Until now, "Last Thursdays" came and went for us.  This week we decided to go and check it out. We arrived toward the end of the evening.  (Husband had been raking MORE leaves in anticipation of the rain that would fall later.)  Still there was plenty--hot chicken sandwiches, a choice of three soups, potato chips, fresh vegetables, and several wonderful desserts!

While intended to provide practical assistance to those experiencing hardship due to the economy, they also have seen many single adults turn out for the fellowship.  Since the "Last Thursday" in November falls on Thanksgiving Day, they plan to serve Thanksgiving dinner at noon with all the trimmings. What a great ministry!

The three bells?  I found out last night.  Three small congregations united in the early '60s.  When the new building was built, the bells from the original three church buildings were mounted and are displayed like this near the entrance of this Holy Trinity church.

The use of the bells to mark the time stems from the period when seamen couldn’t afford a personal timepiece and even if they could, they had no idea on how to tell time with such an instrument. So bells marked the hours of the watch in half-hour increments. The seamen would know if it were morning, noon, or night. Each watch was four hours long.

Every crew member shared watch duty, maintaining a constant watch for danger and helping to insure the safety of all souls aboard. The end of each of the six watches were signaled by eight bells. The crewmember would announce, “Eight bells and all is well” as he turned over duty to the next seaman.

Said one explanation about this custom: “Watch is the most important duty aboard any vessel. We each serve a watch for our fellow man while living this life….”

...and that's just as true NOW as THEN!