We have just finished singing “And the bells rang out for Christmas Day” as part of the refrain in the ballad “Fairytale of New York” to be confronted with the midnight bells on 31st December ringing in the New Year!
The first carillon heralded the good news of the birth of the Christ child and the second proclaims our ever optimistic assumption that next year will be better than the last one.
It is traditional in most cities for people to gather in the main square or outside the Town Hall to welcome the New Year but in Dublin the tradition is to gather at Christ Church Cathedral. This building, which dates back to 1169, is built on the site of a previous wooden church on a height above the original Viking settlement on the river Liffey. Its Gothic naves span a 12th century crypt – said to be the largest in these Islands. It will be used this year to host a reception following a New Year’s Eve Concert in the Cathedral. The bells will be rung during the countdown to midnight when revellers congregate in the Cathedral precincts.
There have been many additions to the original bell over the centuries some of them being recast from canon. The most recent addition was in 1999 when an additional seven bells were added to the ring, giving a grand total of 19 bells, a world record for bells rung this way.
Robert Burns’ poem Auld Lang Syne set to music is frequently sung at midnight although the correct words are seldom heard! Even if they were heard it is unlikely that they would be understood as the Border Scots of Burns’ day is not well known even in Scotland.
It is a drinking song which has endured because it strikes a chord of enduring friendship. It envisages friends meeting after many years and reminiscing about their youth which is still vivid despite the long separation when they went their separate ways. Now having met the hearty handshake and the drink awaken the memories and renew the friendship.
Christians today are often characterised by the warm handshake and fellowship based on a shared experience of Christ. It is not unusual for them to adopt a Bible text for the New Year rather than make resolutions which seldom last very long. The text is based, neither on optimism nor on the warmth of Christian fellowship but on the certainty that “Christ died for me”. He substituted his perfect life for me – the sinner. He rose from the dead ensuring that those who trust him will rise to be with him forever.
“God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” St John Chapter 3 verse 16.
Receive it, believe it, adopt it as your life text for this year but above all trust the One it refers to – He will not leave you as an orphan but adopt you as a son or daughter for 2013 and all the other years you remain here on earth.