Many gather round the church following the sounds of bells. Such sonorous songs come from them that even the wicked will walk forth to go to their temple. But one such bell is now cracked. He dares not tell the others and yet they know from his corrupted message that soon he will break. Solace can’t be given to one such as a broken bell. Once perfect and without error, now with a mere hairline fracture. But all know the hairline grows and with every time he talks, the crack grows and his message wanes. No one can save him in his condition. The healers of his age dare not risk going to such a high place only to be cast down by the twisted message this bell now tolls. And so he is left to his ailment, and all the other bells listen in pity.
Who’s that? A lost sheep sheepishly walks into the church drawn by the bell. He has been there only once before but swore never to come again. Somehow the bell’s toll brought him but why? The bells he had always heard called the rich or holy. They gave a message of no tolerance for mistakes, no questions that are taken seriously, and no doubt that was substantial would be accepted at that church. The bells seemed elitist to those they did not call. So high in their towers, seeming to not even be touched by original sin, they sent out their immaculate message to all of those arrogant enough to believe the message was for them. The message was clear and need not be rung out of them twice, “If you follow your Lord and are without blemish, you are welcome here.” The poor were not welcome and the humble were despised. This place was for the hypocrites and self-righteous. That is what the bells had always told and so the poor in spirit remained so, the people who mourned went uncomforted, the meek remained downcast, the ones searching for righteousness never found it, the merciful were shown only contempt, the clean of heart were despised, the peacemakers were butchered by war, and everyone was persecuted for the sake of self righteousness. All these troubles sprang from the church who failed in its part.
So why did this new man come in? With his callused hands and worn clothes, with his broken heart he soon made new foes. All those in the church welcomed him but dropped the façade once they saw he was neither rich nor righteous. And so they asked the man, “Why are you here? What brought you to us that your sin may infect us? Was it the devil? You will not succeed here demon, we have learned the true message of the Lord. One should not be charitable just as our Lord was when Mary poured the perfume over His feet. He explained to us that we will always have the poor and so should instead enjoy our riches as opposed to wasting them on the poor. So if you were hoping for alms you are mistaken, we won’t help you for we are good Christians.” The poor man, barely lifting his eyes up to meet theirs agreed, “Aye, it is well known throughout the land that you Christians are not charitable and even as I speak the word you cringe. Trust me, I never planned to come here again after the hostility you showed my dying sister. She dreamed that your lord could accept her into his arms as she departed this world for the next one. Though we warned her of your ways she was certain this Christ figure was true but then you corrected her. You had her imprisoned and beaten for trying to ‘guilt’ you into sharing your faith on charges of ‘trespassing’ and there she died, in prison. I never planned on seeing any of you bastards again but still I came because I had hoped your message had changed. One of your bells is broken. It rings of love, and mercy, and hope to those courageous enough to believe. But that’s not all, as it has degraded further, it now speaks of a church were doubts are welcome and questions answered. It speaks true to that which all of us have been secretly needing in our lives. What was once clamorous exclamation of your perfection has now become a mellifluous invitation to those who are broken and are seeking fulfillment. Admittingly, against my better judgment I came here hoping the message was true. I see it was not though, thank you.” And so the man left the church, and it was credited to him as righteous.
After this uncomfortable display of hope, the parishioners spoke amongst themselves. First they had to address how arrogant that man was for hoping for a better afterlife when they, the best and purest, were uncertain themselves. Then their priest soothed any doubts they had talking of God’s chosen ones and how they were obviously those spoken of, the world had given its bounty to these saved men and women as proof. Not to mention that their savior, their king, suffered the life of poverty and the sinful influence of despicable affiliations for their sake. He did this so they wouldn’t have to. All they were required to do is accept Jesus as their savior and accept His life as sinless despite his low friends and lower social status. After this though, the priest spoke of the “possessed” bell and how it must be disposed of. Clearly the broken bell was the work of the devil and thus they must cast it off from their infallible church. And so they did, they cast it off from its high tower and it broke to pieces as it fell upon the rocks below. As it broke, the bell let out its worse chord yet and the priest had to cleanse those present but so loud was it that all in the land heard the fateful bells chord. The blasphemy was “God is selfless love”
After all the pieces were collected and thrown into the trash pile, the poor man came back drawn by the bell’s last message. He saw the remains of it and resolved to never let it be silenced. And so he took all the pieces and crudely put it back together again. This bell was to call those to the church he now built as it proceeded to do for years and years to come. And so it seems that in the bell’s brokenness, the message was finally made whole.