When’s the Best Time to Pray? — part 5
When’s the best time to pray?
We’ve seen this week that our Bibles indicate that times to pray include morning, night and often.
Jesus was a Jew, and he was raised in a time when Jews were called to prayer by the ringing of bells.
We have a bell in the steeple of the building of the church I serve.
I’m told that in the past it rang at the top of every hour. It also rang at the start of every worship service.
Then neighbors complained about the noise. The bell was silenced.
Now, after a renewed interest in it as part of our 180th anniversary as a congregation this year, we’ve begun to again ring the bell before Services of Divine Worship. So far, no complaints from neighbors.
In our home we have a clock that was a gift from a congregation I served. It chimes every fifteen minutes and on the hour.
I have a watch that quietly beeps at the top of the hour, and my phone vibrates at the top of the hour.
What rings or buzzes or somehow marks the passage of time where you are today?
Somewhere in there you can find a good time pray.
And while it’s always a good time to pray, the best time is now.
joescheets 
I have alarms going off on my phone at 6, 10, 2, 6, and 10. Those are medicine alarms. Then there are any functions or appointments. I assign music to them. Both Sides Now, Windmills of My Mind, Aquarius, Lean on Me, etc. There is one ringtone that always is an instant Praise from my mouth. It is Steven Curtis Chapman’s Cinderella. The story behind the writing of the song, about his daughter, and since touch my heart. When that song wafts from my phone, I know it is a call or text from my daughter! Another tone I love to here is the ’70s hit Kodachrome. It signals that I have received a picture, usually of one of the kids!!! I am not limited to those times.
On the note of the bell: St. John’s had a bell when I was growing up. You had to be a certain age to have the honor of being chosen to ring the bell. It was rung at Sunday school time, 9:00 a.m. and the end of Sunday school and noting 15 minutes to get to the 10:15 service. I don’t think anyone rang the bell before the 8:00 service.
What I miss the most though is the Presbyterian bells. They weren’t a ding dong bell. At five every evening the bell tones played hymns. Even as a teenager, I would stand or sit in the swing and sing the hymns. Faith of Our Fathers was played a great deal and was my favorite! I never told my voice teacher, it wasn’t exactly perfect form. I know the words to soooo many hymns, I seldom stare into a hymnal!
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I hear ya: several places I’ve served have had a giant rope that rang the bell conspicuously available to all, and it was a big deal to be allowed to ring it. Good stuff!
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