Hear ye, hear ye! Congregations asked to consider ringing in the 4th

Please consider ringing your church bells and liberty bells on Wednesday, July 4, to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

This is a nationwide celebration officially recognized by Congress in 1963 by a resolution encouraging communities to ring their bells 13 times at 2 p.m. (ET) to represent the original 13 colonies. (Those in the Central Time zone should ring them at 1 p.m.; 11 a..m. Pacific time or noon Mountain Zone).

The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is tapped at the same time. It is too fragile to be rung.

At 1:55-58 p.m. Eastern, all bells are rung to alert residents to the 13 strokes that will follow. (Carillons play for 5-20 minutes.)

Every year, we, at St. James' Parish, Lothian, MD, (est.1692), ask different children or members to ring the bells. We look to new families or cub scouts, as this year, or a member of the altar guild who has always wanted to ring the bell at the chapel. Our rector, the Rev. William H. C. Ticknor, a direct descendent of Bishop Thomas John Claggett, the first bishop ordained on American soil, uses as a reading from the Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48, in a service falling on that day at a retirement home.

See Collects for Independence Day, BCP 190 Traditional; BCP 242 Contemporary. Also Collects for the nation BCP 207 and BCP 258.

Download a brochure here -- and register your bell ringing.

//www.let-freedom-ring.org/


To find out where in your state there is a replica of the Liberty Bell..

//www.libertybellmuseum.com/statebells.htm