Whoever composed the rhyme, “Oranges and lemons, the bells of St Clements” was a cheat! Lemons and Clements are not perfect rhyming words, if one properly enunciates their ‘t’s. Not only that, but the London church referred to in the rhyme is actually St Clement Danes, and so the match is even further from exact. (Though admittedly, what could be coupled with oranges to rhyme with Danes? Oranges and lamb’s brains? Oranges and champagne?)

The apostle Paul once composed a song about fruit. In his letter to the Galatians, he listed off nine graces that he called the fruit of the Spirit, namely: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Trying to match them to equivalent pieces of fruit, like oranges and lemons, might be an unattainable project, but they are beautiful qualities that adorn the Christian whose life was once pitted and pockmarked with their opposites.

The hugely challenging thing that Paul does in his letter, is to make them not just as fruit to be seen in the life of every Christian, but as bells to be heard in every church. Trying to match the fruit of the Spirit to the name of an individual church is a project where perhaps only ‘fools rush in’, yet the match should still be made: ‘Joy, peace and patience, the bells of St Gracious’. ‘’Goodness and love, the bells of St Dove’. Happy is the church, whatever its name, whose bell-tower so rings loud and long.