The tower bells of The Church of the Ascension at Fifth Avenue and 10th Street will be rung for ten minutes at noon on Friday, June 19, 2015. In the wake of the mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a group of more than 60 Episcopal bishops, has invited churches around the country to ring their bells for ten minutes at noon on Friday, June 19. The bishops suggest ringing the bells one minute for each victim and one minute for the soul of the individual who committed the crime.
At the request of Bishop Charles von Rosenberg of The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, Bishops United also invites Episcopalians, and other people of good will to recite the prayer of St. Francis.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
