Church bells to ring for climate justice

THE BELLS at St Magnus’ Episcopal Church in Lerwick will “ring out for climate justice” this weekend ahead of the COP26 conference starting in Glasgow.

To mark the start of Scottish Interfaith Week all places of worship are invited to ring a bell for climate justice at 6pm on Saturday (30 October) for thirty minutes.

St Magnus’ Episcopal Church is taking part with support from Shetland Inter Faith.

The following day (Sunday) at 10.45am St Magnus is holding a climate Sunday service.

United Nations’ COP26 climate conference is taking place in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November, with world leaders due to attend the summit.

Bells are associated with the call to worship, weddings and very special national celebrations such as the millennium or the ending of the Second World War.

Historically they had another function – to ring out warnings for bad events such as fires, floods and shipwrecks.

The team at St Magnus’ Episcopal Church said our planet is “giving us plenty of warnings, through extreme weather events, that we have profoundly affected the balance of the planet”.

Ringing the bell for thirty minutes symbolises support for action to redress the balance of our planet.

St Magnus’ rector Rev’d Canon Neil Brice said: “I am pleased that our bell will join with others across the country to sound out and remind people that we can no longer just ignore the obvious signs of climate change.

“This is a worldwide happening and people of all faiths are showing their unity and concern about this.”

Radina McKay from Shetland Inter Faith added: “The focus of interfaith work this year has been our planet and its peoples.

“United in vision, the faith communities across Scotland issued the Glasgow Multi-Faith Declaration for COP26 calling upon world leaders to do their utmost to limit the effects of climate change.”