Alarm. Hope. Action. That’s the motto of the Climate Justice ‘Sounds of 350’ event happening this Sunday at the Lutheran Cathedral here in Copenhagen. The Cathedral is one of hundreds of churches, synagogues, and mosques around the world that are sounding the number 350 in a creative way for the "World Wants a Real Deal" weekend of action — there are over 477 churches ringing their bells 350 times in the Netherlands alone!
Here’s a description of the event here in Copenhagen from our friends at the World Council of Churches, the incredible fellowship that is the driving force behind these events:
Since immemorial times in cultures across the world musical instruments like bells and drums have been used to warn people of imminent danger – but also to call people to religious service, marking important moments in worship and seeking to connect to God.
Sunday 13 December marks the height of the talks at United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen.
At 3 p.m. – marking the end of a high profile ecumenical celebration at the Lutheran Cathedral in Copenhagen, the Church of Our Lady – the churches in Denmark will ring their bells, and Christians around the world are invited to echo them by sounding their own bells, shells, drums, gongs or horns 350 times.
We envisage a chain of chimes and prayers stretching in a time-line from the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific – where the day first begins and where the effects of climate change are already felt today – to northern Europe and across the globe.
You can sound a climate alarm, find hope, and take action this weekend by joining up with a vigil or "Sounds of 350" event in your city or town