The Ringing of the Bells

In a previous post, you were challenged to find the one person in the 1987 bell choir who is still playing the bells. It is Lee Ann Strunk, seventh from the right. Check the caption and see how many others you know. Lee Ann talked about how the bell choir came about.

Pastor C.H. Dudley approached choir director Lynn Prichard about starting a hand bell choir, as quite a few members were interested in participating. Prichard said sure, but only how could we raise the money to buy the bells? A complete set of bells would be pretty expensive, somewhere around four to five thousand dollars. Donations were taken, and the necessary funds were raised in only two weeks! Lee Ann said the bell choir sounded just awful at first, but practice and dedication paid off in time. The commandment is simply to make "a joyful noise," but the goal is to make lovely music for our Lord.

Those bells are still in use today. The FCC Bell Choir opens the worship service every Sunday morning at 10:30 under the direction of Lee Ann Strunk. If you are interested in joining the bell choir (sometimes affectionately referred to as "the ding-a-lings"), Lee Ann would like to hear from you. She says if you can count, you can play the bells. Practice is on Sunday evenings. All ages are invited, and if enough young people want to learn to play the bells, we may soon have a youth bell choir as well!