I've been thinking a lot about rituals. You may not know this about me but I love the ritual of Holy Communion. I think it is a moment when we intentionally enter into a reality that is always around us. It is beautiful and mystical and most of all meaningful. Rituals are ways that we are intentional with our rhythms to help participate more deeply with the world around us. Here's what I figured out recently: Protestant Christians suck at ritualizing our faith. In fact, I think we are scared to be too ritualistic because we fear we'll become Catholic (how about the new Pope, huh? Added hits with that comment).
I don't know if fear of becoming Catholic is really it because the Lutheran church kept most of the rituals and the Episcopal church has definitely keep up with rituals. Do they have meaning? I don't know I'm not really in these denominations. And of course every local church has its own rituals. For instance, I once heard a story of a monk who would bring his cat to lead morning prayers. He would hook the leash on the lectern while he led the prayer time. The same place still has a hook on a new lectern for the cat's leash because it became part of the tradition. The monk had moved on to a different ministry setting, and on a visit asked why they had the hook on the lectern. The answer was that they just always had, and it was part of how things worked there. This act of bringing his cat to morning prayer created a culture that continued long after the man had left. (Side Note: I have no idea where I heard this story, if I retold it correctly, if this is remotely true, or why he kept his cat on a leash).
We have rituals that build just based on where we are that take on new meaning or are empty of meaning but we keep them out of comfort. I think we have some work to do in the Protestant Traditions to bring our rituals home with us. For instance, did you know that Jewish families celebrate most of their religious traditions in their homes more than at the synagogue. The Sabbath has a set of rituals that happen in the home. It's not just don't go to work instead go to church so that the pastor has to work on the holy day of rest but the rest of us don't kind of thing. It is a ritual to remember our rhythms and set a pacing for our lives that centers around God.
I believe that we need a religious ritualization of the home. I think we should set up a time to be in community as a family where we talk about how God works in this world. It could be turning off the TV and reading something together. It could be talking to your teens about your faith and having them do the same (even God forbid your struggles with belief). It could be flannel board hour at home with your two year old where you tell Bible stories. It could be lighting a candle at sundown while saying a prayer together. But we need a ritual at home to help make faith more than something that is done for an hour every Sunday and if your ambitious another hour on Wednesday. Let's do church, religion, faith at home with the people see most. Oh and atheist, you can even do this and talk about whatever your brand of atheism believes; science is the new Catholic, or humanism is the new Protestantism, or Nietzsche is the new Jesus, or whatever (I think I lost all the atheist with the first line, so if you made it this far, congrats, we must be friends). Regardless of your belief, if you make a meaningful ritual out of it, then it becomes part of how you participate in a greater reality on an ongoing basis.
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