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Narthex and Bell

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Other Narthex Memorials

     In the Narthex, the area of the church under the tower, the visitor will notice the impressive wood sculpture of the Holy Family. Rendered in a contemporary style in laminated red oak, it was carved by the American sculptor Norma Anderson and was given to the parish in 1979 by Barbara Fisher as a memorial to Harold Walling Fisher (1921-1976). It features the infant Jesus flanked by the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. Together, they welcome visitors who enter the church.




      Above the ceiling of the Narthex, high in the tower, hangs the parish bell, weighing 563 pounds. Donated on November 20, 1974, by Robert and Paula Parrott in thanksgiving for their blessings, it was hoisted into the tower by a crane and dedicated in a ceremony by the Rev. C. Corydon Randall. A prayer inside the wall of the Narthex reads: “Almighty God, who by thy servant Moses didst command to make two silver trumpets for the convocation of solemn assemblies, Be pleased to accept our offering of this bell; bless, hallow, and sanctify it with thy heavenly benediction, and grant that through this generation, and through those that are to come, it may continue to call together thy faithful people to praise and worship thy Holy Name, through Christ our Lord, Amen.”
     Bells have a long history in the English Church, signaling to field workers the start of services and announcing to townspeople joyous and sad tidings. Trinity’s bell chimes regularly before worship begins to herald the beginning of the procession; it rings during the Sanctus portion of the Mass, and is tolled as well on other solemn occasions. Though a bell was not originally a part of the tower, parishioner James Haberly donated a small carillon of chimes in 1921. The parish enjoyed it for a number of years, but the weight of the mechanism proved too great for the tower structure, forcing the parish to remove it in 1948.
    The two brass Holy Water fonts near the Narthex door and at the ramp were donated in 1974 during Randall’s rectorate. The narthex font was given by Jill Jellison and the ramp font by Van and Carol Williams.
    The Episcopal Church flag that flies outside the front door on Sunday morning signifies to passers-by that services are or will soon be in session. It was donated in 1975 by Robert Parrott. The stone floor was given in the 1970s by the Shrimpton family.

 

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