The corona epidemic has led to closed churches and quiet bell towers in Norway. Now the church bells will ring every Saturday at 5pm to symbolize hope.
“The silence should be broken as a sign of hope. This is a corona exemption. We will ring on Saturdays at 5 pm,” says Atle Sommerfeldt of the Church of Norway.
Norwegian churches have recently switched to live broadcasting services online and have also streamed concerts and other events.
“The church must be present for people. There are many who are troubled now, and we want to show that the church is still here for prayer, conversation and hope for the future,” says Church Council leader Kristin Gunleiksrud Raaum.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
This sounds like something out of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, about a Christian knight returning from the Crusades to a medieval Sweden being wracked by the Black Death – bubonic plague. My review I just re-posted on International Movie Database (IMDb):
A film everyone should see, especially now.
We all play for time against Death, but this film dramatizes it like no other.
It is both ironic and tragic that Max von Sydow just died, himself. He was very much a Christian – in the existential sense – knight, himself.
I believe I first saw the film at Swedish-Lutheran-American Augustana College, and before and sometimes after our world literature classics class, my best friend there – who was Swedish-American and looks rather like Max von Sydow – and I would play chess while incidentally discussing basic questions of life.
As we see our world collapsing now too because of disease, the knight shines forth as a human being facing life … and death … with courage and nobility … thinking of others.
I would be wonderful to hear recordings of the church bells ringing with pictures of the churches.