Monday, March 01, 2010

Getting Your Bell Rung


Am I able to milk one more blog out of the Olympics? The answer is a resounding "yes!" Can I make a spiritual connection? Maybe! Actually, yesterday in worship I joked at the outset that we wouldn't be praying (overtly) for a Canadian win in the gold-medal hockey game. God doesn't care!

I must confess though, that after the Canadian men tortured us by letting the game go into overtime and Sid the Kid scored the winning goal there was a St. Paul's connection. When a hockey player gets hit hard it is described as "getting his/her bell rung." Well, Ruth and I raced up the street, rang the church bell fourteen times -- one for each Canadian gold medal -- then skedaddled back home in time to see the presentation of the medals. I may be unrealistic, but it's hard to imagine another church in the country ringing its bell fourteen times to celebrate the conclusion of the Olympic games and hockey gold.
I should mention that my dear wife was in the television room for the entire game, but saw none of it. The tension was so great that she couldn't bear to watch, so she listened and stuck to the knitting -- literally -- right through to the end. She cheered with gusto.

God may not care about the outcome of a game, but we can thank God for such a momentous end to the Olympics. That was exciting!

5 comments:

Nancy said...

We are not real hockey watchers but we watched this game. To show our ignorance, we did not realize it was sudden death in overtime, so I went downstairs to check on the roast when I heard my daughter and husband yelling. I missed it!! Saw it in reruns.....:(
Sorry to say I guess we had our T.V. on too loudly we didn't hear the church bells but we did hear the cars honking.... good for you, I think that was great what you did re the bells! It was an awesome night! We can all be proud Canadians today.

IanD said...

You guys rung the bell?!

THAT'S AWESOME!

roger said...

Until "wonderful Wednesday" when Canada won four medals, people were getting twitchy at the lack of medals we had won. What a great second half for us...capped off by a gold medal in hockey. I don't think there would be too many Canadians who would pick anyone other than the Americans to beat in the big game. Sweet!

Laura said...

Fun to hear that our " bell got rung" and we celebrated.I think God is enjoying our joy!
I have never thought so much about the "Olympic feeling" as I did this year. Perhaps it was your blogs, perhaps it was the home soil...although never truly solved whether the feeling is patriotism, hope, gratitude....?? one Globe and Mail writer said it well when he said that the Olympics gave us the permission to feel....and with all our differences that collective feeling was good.

David Mundy said...

Thanks for all your responses, not only to this blog but to the past few musings on the Olympics. Johnny, I'm sure you will be glad to return home after such an interesting but demanding experience.

Through the ages church bells were rung for occasions of joy and sorrow. It seemed appropriate.