There are two things you can't escape in the summertime in New York City: the heat and the noise. I don't ever get used to the heat (the window units don't do the job) but I do get used to the noise. And tuning out the noise is no small feat because there is an unending symphony happening on the streets: the car alarms, the sirens, the horns, the kids on their scooters, the airplanes on final approach, the music from the ice cream truck, the one sided cell phone conversations, and the thumping car stereos, are just a few of the instruments. I've become so familiar with this symphony that it is only when the orchestra pauses in unison, creating a brief moment of "silence" (only a half note rest), that I notice something's amiss.

But no matter how familiar I become with this music there is always one instrument breaks through the ambient street noise: church bells.

Throughout Brooklyn these old churches still ring their church bells. I'm not sure if they're on a weekly schedule or only ring on special occasions but I hear them and they seem to carry through the air with more weight than the rest of the noise. The reason I can hear them is not because they are louder than the other sounds (in fact they're not nearly as loud as the other street instruments) but because they're more beautiful. The church bells don't just ring, they play old hymns and send a beautiful melody permeating through the chaotic noise of the rest of the world.

I suppose in this city as well in other places around the world church bells are slowly leaving the orchestra of the streets. When was the last time you saw a new church building with a bell tower? It doesn't happen anymore.

But church bells have something to teach the church today. They teach us how to announce the good news of Jesus to the rest of the world. They let the neighborhood know that the church is still there, and that Jesus is still at work in the midst of the noisy chaos.

But its the 'how' that's just as important as the 'what'. How do the church bells stand out? How does the church get a voice in the midst of all the noise? How can our gospel message be heard by those around us? The only way the good news of Jesus is going to be heard is by being the most beautiful message being lived out in our neighborhoods. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the most beautiful story that's ever been told, and as we live as Jesus' faithful followers showing his love to the world we too are called to be part of this beautiful story. And what will make it attractive to others is the beauty of Jesus, not how loud we can talk about him. I hope the church bells aren't going anywhere anytime soon. I need them to remind me of how I'm supposed to talk and live.

I hear a car alarm ringing on my street, so I'm gonna wait and listen for the church bells, hopefully it will be "Be Thou My Vision" as I heard last week...now that's beautiful.