The Bell Tower for the new Chapel has arrived today. Not of itself a significant moment, perhaps. But its arrival brings out a small crowd – children, students, villagers and others – to watch the huge lorries trundle up field lane. The lorries are enormous – and the fields soaking wet with the rain. This really does look like Thunderbirds meets The Archers. The bell tower is a gift from a wonderful couple who heard about the Appeal through one of our students. It turned out that the donor had a close relative, some years ago, who trained at Cuddesdon just after the Great War; and another relative who helped the nuns at Clewer, who are now about to move in here. It is remarkable how these stories and lives come together.
Coming together is, of course, what the bell tower is for. A new bell – cast from the College’s and from the Convent – will soon peal out across the rolling Oxfordshire hills. Its message is simple: prayers are about to begin. Villagers often tell me that the tolling of the bell at 7.15am is one of the most comforting sounds they hear. We toll the bell for all services here, and the call to prayer is a reminder that prayer is central to our life here as a community, and to our lives as individuals.
This week we remember the life of Launcelot Andrewes, one of the great seventeenth architects of Anglican spirituality. Andrewes has some advice for us all then, and that captures something of the essence of prayer. He knows that when we lose ourselves to God, we have nothing to fear, and much to gain:
You may be busy with many important matters: but one thing is needful.
Give yourself continually to prayer.
Love the Lord with all your life and call upon him for your salvation.
A (person) can receive nothing except what God gives.
Prayer goes up; grace comes down.
God’s grace is richer than prayer:
God always gives more than he is asked [Preces Privatae].
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