Timed-Out

Timed-Out

The old, worn-out humorous story has some truth to it!  Remember the one about the rich benefactor who would finance the new church sanctuary if he could have it designed his own way?  The church board finally agreed and anxiously awaited the day of completion and the opening service in the new sanctuary.

Upon entering the sanctuary they noticed only one line of pews across the back.  This seemed curious, but when the pew was filled it moved slowly forward until it was the front pew!  Then another pew popped up in the back for others to be seated, and it also moved forward after being filled.  Seeing this, the pastor thought it was a wonderful design.

However, when he was preaching and the clock reached twelve noon he disappeared through a trap door which opened in the floor.  The worshippers thought this was a wonderful design feature!

Of course, that is just a funny story, but I have served two or three places where less dramatic but similar things occurred.  The most notable was the church in Holton, Kansas, where I served as student pastor while in seminary.

The old church had a bell tower with a pull rope from the bell down into the foyer.  As pastor I was to ring the bell ten times at 10:00 a.m. signaling the beginning of the Sunday school hour.  At noon the head usher would ring the bell signaling the 12:00 p.m. time.

During my very first service there the noon hour came just as I was bringing my morning sermon to a conclusion.  This was the climax of the message, a time of invitation, and the high point of the service, in my opinion.  However, even in the seriousness of the moment the head usher slipped out to the foyer and began ringing the bell—twelve times!

Following the service I talked with him about the importance of not ringing the bell before my sermon was concluded, but he insisted that the bell had to be rung exactly at 12:00 noon—there was no convincing him otherwise!  He felt that the people of Holton counted on the ringing of the church bell to let them know it was noon—“we’ve always done it that way.”  It was as though this was the most important thing that he did all week!  If there was to be any adjustment, it would have to be on my part.  I quickly learned to finish my sermon each Sunday before the clock reached 12:00 noon!

I faced a similar situation at another church, where the bell was an electronic bell which rang out at certain times through loud speakers in the bell tower.  In fact, it rang at noon every day throughout the week.  The system was complicated and no one wanted to change the settings—besides, “we’ve always done it that way and the whole town knows our bell rings at noon.”  So, I tried each Sunday to complete my sermon before the bell started ringing—at least there wasn’t a trap door!