Those living or working near St. Johns United Church of Christ, 11333 St. Johns Church Road, have likely heard the now-familiar chime of the church’s bell tower. The usual hour strikes have recently been accompanied by “bell music”: Christian hymns that last approximately two minutes and are played at fifteen-minute intervals, though the community has mixed reactions.

“Last night, my family was on our deck and it was distracting trying to have a conversation,” commented Debbie DeMartino, a resident of Green Park, on a Nextdoor discussion board. “Playing bells or one song on the hour or half hour is one thing, but it has become continuous all day.”

Reverend Todd Bean at St. Johns Church has received calls from the community with complaints and wants to set the record straight. Plans are already in motion to change the bells’ frequency.

“We just hope the response is swift enough for everybody,” Bean said. “We want to take care of it and make sure we have happy neighbors, because we’re all about wanting to work with the community.”

The next council meeting at St. Johns Church will include a discussion on the frequency of use of the bell — called a carillon — but in the meantime, a volunteer from the church should be reprogramming it this week to dial it back. Bean says that he would prefer one song be played at the hour mark, with a small chime to signify the half-hour, during the daytime.

The carillon went out of use during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the church had it fixed in the past three months. The issue arose when an “optimistic” volunteer programmed the bell to play songs every fifteen minutes.

Bean explains that the community is in a different day and age, post-COVID: more people work from home than they did the last time St. Johns had a working carillon. As someone who sometimes works from home, he admits he wouldn’t want to hear bells at that frequency.

“People have called us when (the carillon) wasn’t working, saying they loved it and they missed it,” Bean said. “We want to find that balance in the community, where we’re still providing something, but we’re not affecting a big group of people.”