“Pastor, you can climb up to see the traditional bell of our church if you want.” Bro Teo suggested.
“Really? Sure!” With curiosity and wanting to have a glimpse of the traditional bell hidden in a small attic on the top floor of the church, I grabbed a ladder and climbed up to the attic of the church prayer room. After all, having heard the bell ring for two years, I have never really seen it with my own eyes. To be honest, I was attracted by the traditional church bell immediately when I looked up at it hanging on the top floor of the church. Watching it sway from side to side, making a loud noise, so clean, simple and calming and divine.
“I must take some good photos of it with a good camera.” I said to myself.
After a few days, I brought brother Hii Yiuk Choon to the attic of the prayer room. When planning to take some photos from a distance under the bell, we noticed there was a long ladder reaching the small attic where the bell was situated. In order to get a better view, we decided to have an “adventure” by climbing up to the top of the attic.
With much care, we reached the small attic room at the top of the church building successfully. Lo and behold! What we saw at that moment was a breath-taking traditional church bell. I was excited inexplicably by just standing in front of the traditional bell and scrutinize it in zero distance, it felt like time had frozen and that moment was all that’s left, for eternity.
The top pin of the bell is firmly anchored to a solid bell yoke, and the bell canon consists of six miniature human heads. Besides the flowery design that was engraved on the surface of the bell and the inscription of 「ACHILLE MAZZOLA FUSE VALDUGGIA VERCELLI」, the most memorable and distinctive part of the bell is the inscription「WESLEY METHODIST CHURCH, SIBU; SPRING 1984」. It turns out that this traditional church bell has been placed here for 36 years.
Thanks to Rev Dr Su Chii Ann for his good recollection as to why or how it came about. Rev Su was the PIC of WMC in 1983-1984 when the present Wesley Methodist Church building project was in progress. Mr Wilson Chang Jih Ren was the architect who did our church drawings. His late father Mr Chang Ching Chii was instrumental in the supervision of the entire building project on a volunteer basis. The late senior Chang wanted very much to look for a church bell for WMC, so he asked his good friend the late Mr Lau Hieng Hie to source it. By God’s grace, Mr Lau found one in UK. Mr Chang Ching Muo, Wilson Chang’s third uncle donated the bell to Wesley Methodist Church Sibu.
Gazing at the traditional church bell in front of me, I felt like I was standing in the torrent of history.
I can only imagine,
How did this bell travel this far from England to Sibu?
How many expectations, dreams, missions and love have been carried by this bell?
How many people have been called to worship by this bell?
How silently has this bell been witnessing the joy and sorrow of this church?
How has this bell fulfilled its mission in loneliness but faithfully for the past 36 years?
Today,
This bell is still emitting a loud sound every Sunday, trying to wake the sleeping generation up and return to the house of God.
Let the church bell continue to ring…
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Note： According to the result of searching online, it seems like「ACHILLE MAZZOLA FUSE VALDUGGIA VERCELLI」 is the name of the bell manufacturer.
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