Understanding the Nature of Ritual

This past Sunday I went through the ritual of putting on my white alb (the word alb means white), with a white stole (an ancient sign of office). The color for the current season of the church year of worship is white. The acolytes also wore white garments that may be called albs as well. They used special candle lighters to perform a ritual of lighting four candles on either side of a brass cross standing on a table often called an altar—even though no animals are ever sacrificed upon it.

After the opening hymn I led the congregation in another ritual at the opening of the Divine Service, that of confessing sins and receiving forgiveness or absolution. Part of that ritual involves a kind of conversation between the pastor and the gathered congregation. I referred to that in another blog only a couple postings back. As part of the confession and absolution ritual the congregation members are invited to make upon themselves the sign of the cross as the pastor pronounces God's merciful forgiveness upon them. That sign was first put upon them when they were baptized in the most sacred Name of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Properly understood the ritual of singing the opening hymn and receiving the Lord's absolution is not the opening of the Divine Service itself. It is but the gracious invitation of the merciful God to enter into the His presence to be served by Him with His Word and Sacrament. Once His absolution or forgiveness are received by the gathered worshippers, they move joyfully into His presence to be thus served. That movement was symbolized this past Sunday as I spoke forgiveness as our LORD's public servant and with His authority from in front of the railing separating the congregation from the space in which the altar stands. The altar is a symbol, reminding the worshippers that the LORD Christ offered Himself as the final sacrifice for sins upon the altar of the cross. It is from that same altar that the bread and wine of the LORD's Supper are served. As I made my way from in front of that altar up the stairs to the altar itself the congregation sang a psalm of entrance—known in Latin as the Introit. As the pastor approached the altar, so did the entire congregation—ritually. All were then gathered before the LORD.

You have noticed by now that I frequently use the word ritual. I do so for a reason. A ritual is a sequence of activities. These involve gestures, clothing, words and objects performed in a space specially set aside for certain activities. All the gestures and movements, together with the words spoken and songs sung are performed according to a set sequence, one thing after another. Ritual is inevitable in worship—all kinds of worship, both traditional and contemporary—just as it is whenever people get together for whatever reason. Certain things are expected, done and shared.

Let me briefly relate a ritual I experienced at a football game at College Station, Texas. My sons and I had seats down in front and close to the sidelines at about the 45 yard line. We all dressed in shirts of maroon and white with symbols of Texas A&M University on them. Immediately behind us was a man who supported the opposing team dressed in the colors of that university. During the game a yell leader (they do not have cheer leaders), dressed in a white shirt with his sleeves rolled up and white pants led us and other fans in a variety of special yells—some of which I didn't know, because I was not trained at A&M as a student. Then at a certain point we all locked arms and feet and swayed back and forth as we sang together the school song. I learned that ritual when my children attended A&M. It is a very moving one, binding the over 90,000 football fans gathered together in song and motion. When you attend these games you expect to participate in these many rituals.

So it is in the church's liturgy. Liturgy is close to drama. It is the manner by which Christians act out dramatically the public announcement of the Gospel, the good news of God's love in Christ. There is a center of attention just as there is in an acted drama on stage or in a movie. There are carefully thought out actions, costumes and props (altars, candles, banners, instruments, etc.). There is a special language that, like the language of drama, is natural, yet not every-day language. It is a condensed language and so becomes more power-filled than our usual way of speaking. The liturgy uses every-day language, but lifts it up so that more can be said in a brief space and period of time. The ritual doesn't completely reproduce the language of every day. That language has too many repeated phrases, pauses and clumsiness.

The closest thing to ordinary speech in the liturgy is the sermon, but even there the preacher must be careful to be precise. His words are condensed so that many things can be said in but a few minutes.

Whether you write or talk about worship as traditional or contemporary there is always ritual ! All human societies, past or present, feature rituals of one kind or another. These include not only worship rites, but also rites of passage, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals, graduations and on and on.

I say again, as before, we need to know why the rituals are performed and what they mean. Such meanings must be taught and re-taught. Only then can we fully appreciate, carefully adjust or wisely avoid them.

The OT Sacrificial System, A Pattern of What Was To Come

Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples on the very night that he was betrayed by Judas, one of Jesus' own chosen disciples. The Gospel of John records one stirring event that night that has been imitated again and again by Christian communities as they remember and celebrate the Lord's Supper  in Holy Week. Jesus laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wrapped around Him. This was, of course, the lowly task of a servant in the household of a great lord and certainly not the work of the Messianic King—or at least so the disciples thought.

Peter objected to what Jesus was doing, saying, "You shall never wash my feet."

Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.". . . And then he went on to explain, "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. - John 13:8,13-16 ESV

The writer of Hebrews 8 uses this same word, example (hypodeigmä in Greek), to describe the entire Old Testament sacrificial system. He also calls it but a shadow (skia in Greek) of the heavenly things. God had given Moses specific instruction to make everything according to the pattern (typos in Greek) given to him. The tent had to be just so in size with a specific number of rooms. In each room certain specific objects were to be fashioned and placed. The high priest, in turn, was to be dressed in specific clothing and he had detailed instructions about how and when to carry out his duties.

The ministry or service that the high priest performed, says Hebrews, was not what goes on in heaven before God. All these rituals and sacrifices were but copies or shadows of what was to come when Christ, the true promised Messiah, came. They pointed forward to the substance or the living body and ministry of Christ (Col. 2:17). The entire law, Hebrews will go on to say, was but a shadow of the good things to come. It was not the true form (icon in Greek). 

In the next chapter he will use yet one more word to describe the various gifts and bloody sacrifices offered by the high priest for himself and the worshippers. He calls them all a parable ( parabolē in Greek) for that particular time, a period that came to an end when Christ, the true High Priest, fulfilled his duties upon the cross (John 19:30). 

So Hebrews practically exhausts the Greek language in order to point out that the whole sacrificial system, with the Tabernacle and later the Temple, the high priest and his helpers, the thousands of sacrifices of bulls, sheep and goats and all the various rituals—the entire system— was not and never was intended to be anything other than a . . . 

• shadow
• example
• copy
• pattern and
• parable

. . . of what was to come and what Christ completed once and for all in the presence of God, in the heavenly places. Watch how again and again the writer makes that point. In the words of Christ, "It is finished!" No more sacrifices, no more blood and no more death. It is over. The debts are paid. And what a comfort it is for all of us who put our faith and trust in Jesus, our true High Priest. 

Who Is The God In Whom We Americans Trust?

As  noted yesterday, I do not plan to participate in any so-called ecumenical National Day of Prayer tomorrow, regardless of where it is located. That's not because I'm unpatriotic or do not believe in prayer. It has to do with more basic beliefs.

We Americans have our own unique religion. That was recognized and lifted up by Robert Bellah's essay, "Civil Religion in America," published in the Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in the winter of 1967. Bellah starts,

While some have argued that Christianity is the national faith, and others that church and synagogue celebrate only the generalized religion of "the American Way of Life," few have realized that there actually exists alongside of and rather clearly differentiated from the churches an elaborate and well-institutionalized civil religion in America. This article argues not only that there is such a thing, but also that this religion—or perhaps better, this religious dimension—has its own seriousness and integrity and requires the same care in understanding that any other religion does.[i]

Writing against the background of President Kennedy's Inaugural address of January 20, 1961, Bellah continues,

It might be countered that the very way in which Kennedy made his references (to God) reveals the essentially vestigial place of religion today. He did not refer to any religion in particular. He did not refer to Jesus Christ, or to Moses, or to the Christian church; certainly he did not refer to the Catholic church. In fact, his only reference was to the concept of God, a word that almost all Americans can accept but that means so many different things to so many different people that it is almost an empty sign. Is this not just another indication that in America religion is considered vaguely to be a good thing, but that people care so little about it that it has lost any content whatever? Isn't Dwight Eisenhower reported to have said "Our government makes no sense unless it is founded in a deeply felt religious faith-and I don't care what it is,"[ii] and isn't that a complete negation of any real religion?

Bellah goes on to quote from Benjamin Franklin's autobiography and George Washington's Farewell Address to point out that religion, particularly the idea of God, played a constitutive role in the thought of the early American statesmen. Then he continues,

What we have, then, from the earliest years of the republic is a collection of beliefs, symbols, and rituals with respect to sacred things and institutionalized in a collectivity. This religion—there seems no other word for it—while not antithetical to and indeed sharing much in common with Christianity, was neither sectarian nor in any specific sense Christian. At a time when the society was overwhelmingly Christian, it seems unlikely that this lack of Christian reference was meant to spare the feelings of the tiny non-Christian minority. Rather, the civil religion expressed what those who set the precedents felt was appropriate under the circumstances. It reflected their private as well as public views. . .  

. . . But the civil religion was not, in the minds of Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, or other leaders, with the exception of a few radicals like Tom Paine, ever felt to be a substitute for Christianity. There was an implicit but quite clear division of function between the civil religion and Christianity.

Read the essay yourself. I think Bellah is correct. We Americans do have a "civil religion" with some fundamental beliefs about us being God's chosen nation with a destiny to preserve and spread democracy in the world. Our president is almost our national high priest whose duty it is to call us as a nation to pray to "God" at least once a year. Further, we believe that "all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights" and have a right to equal protection under our laws. We sing "God bless America," and close our political speeches with that same phrase. We even put the phrase "In God we trust" on our money.

But who is this God in whom we trust? 

My allegiance is to but one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And when I pray I am guided by these words of my God, my Savior and my Lord,

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - Jhn 14:6 ESV

How then can I pray to some other God or gods or join in with those who reject my Lord and God? I shall pray for my nation. I do pray for my nation, but I will not pray to any other god than the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, regardless of what law is passed!

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.