The Importance Of Rituals In Our Daily Lives

I am writing this post on the final day of the year. How do you celebrate the old and bring in the new year? I found one site listing what is done in various countries. Here's a sample:

SPAIN At midnight, it's customary to quickly eat 12 grapes, one at each stroke of the clock. Each one signifies good luck for one month of the coming year. FINLAND Folks predict their fortunes for the coming year by casting molten tin into a container of water and interpreting the shape the metal takes after it hardens. A heart or ring shape means a wedding, a ship signifies travel. a pig means lots of good food. BELARUSUnmarried women play games to predict who will get hitched in the new year. In one game a pile of corn is put in front of each woman and a rooster is let loose. Whatever pile he approaches first shows which woman will be the first to marry. PHILIPPINES Round shapes, which represent coins, symbolize prosperity. There are heaps of round fruits on dining tables. Some folks eat precisely a dozen fruits at midnight. Polka dots also are thought to bring good luck, being round and all, and are quite prominent.

But how important are such rituals on the other days of the year? R. Alan Culpepper, commenting on The Gospel of Luke in The New Interpreter's Bible, reflects on the importance of rituals:

... The observance of religious requirements and rituals has fallen on hard times. Essential to Judaism is the praise of God in all of life. The Jewish law taught that God was to be honored in one's rising up and lying down, in going out and coming in, in how one dressed and what one ate. . . .

The pressures of modern life have reduced the importance of rituals in our everyday lives. How many of us even have prayer before meals any longer? Very few take any time to study the Bible together. Some reading this will have to admit that they only attend church on holidays like Christmas or Easter or when requested to attend a wedding or a funeral. The marking of daily events with a ritual that recognizes God's presence in our lives is practically extinct. So we end up assuming that we will only find God in certain sacred places or in observances led by holy people. 

Are we living in a world from which God has departed? Will your day to day experiences in this new year have no meaning beyond themselves? Is there no longer room for mystery and wonder in this world of high tech and science fiction? 

Here is a challenge for the new year : Make a special point to celebrate God's presence and goodness in the wonder of family and friends at meals, special events like birthdays and anniversaries, the discovery of a place you've never visited before, moving into a new home or upon recovering from a serious illness or accident. 

For instance, Anglican priest, Rev. Bosco Peters, offers a chalk house blessing on Epiphany, January 6.   Epiphany is the day that the western church remembers the visit of the Magi, the wise men from the east who came to worship the Christ Child. So we may ask God to bless the visit of all who enter our house in this new year. 

Martin Luther's commentary on the First Article of the Apostles Creed reminds us of this. 

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily with all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. 

This is most certainly true.

[The Book of Concord: The Small Catechism]

May our LORD bless each and every day of your new year. 

My Grandson's Wedding

I am about to receive one of the greatest blessings of my life. This weekend I will preside at the wedding of my eldest  grandson Shawn. He and Marian will exchange vows of faithfulness in a church in south Texas. Needless to say, along with the rest of the family, I am very pleased and excited. 

The young couple has asked me to help them to meditate upon Matthew 7:24-27:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

One of the things often forgotten is that public ministers or pastors did not preside at Christian weddings for several hundreds of years. Marriage for long centuries was understood to be a contract between families. Often couples were not even acquainted with one another. That depended, of course, on the economic level of the families and where they lived. In any event the concept of marriage as one of the so-called seven sacraments did not arise until later in the history of the church. The Council of Trent in the sixteenth century counter-reformation declared that for Roman Catholics a marriage is a sacrament to be administered by the church through the witness and blessing of an ordained priest. The same Council insisted that the couple must exchange rings, a custom that earlier was optional. 

As a Christian pastor committed to the Lutheran confessions, I cannot accept marriage as a sacrament offering special grace to enable the couple to live the Christian life together. We Lutherans reserve the use of the word 'sacrament' to the Lord's Supper and Holy Baptism (and sometimes also penance). That is a topic for much longer discussion at another time.

Instead, I turn to the Word of the Lord Jesus that Shawn and Marian have asked be read and considered at the time of their wedding. Through his Word our Lord promises to strengthen them with His Spirit. His Word is the rock foundation upon which they must build their new house--their common life and the life of their family. As they build upon that Word they will find all they need to face the storms that inevitably will come crashing in upon them like the hurricanes that sweep off the Gulf of Mexico. 

I am very happy that Shawn and Marian have chosen to build their household, their family upon that foundation. In Psalm 103 King David reminds us that our days are like grass. The dry wind comes along to blow over it and it is gone and forgotten. However, the love of our Lord Jesus is eternal and ever lasting with those who hold him in reverent faith and honor. He has made a covenant with us upon the cross, a covenant in which he pronounces forgiveness and mercy. In Christ we are now seen by the heavenly Father as righteous and without sin. We are his sons and daughters. 

Shawn and Marian believe that. They share the same faith as do I and the rest of the family. So, as David says, "The Lord's love is with those who fear him and his righteousness with their children's children" (v. 17). So they need nothing more. They have the love and blessing of Jesus. They are not only part of our family, they are part of the great and eternal family of God. He will guide, protect and defend them until we all dwell together in the Father's house in the new creation. 

Should I be happy about that? Should we have a family celebration this weekend? As we used to say up in Minnesota where I grew up, "Yah sure, ya betcha!" Yes, ya betcha again and again a thousand times over. And we will. I might even post a photo or two the next time I post. Keep looking.