Ritual in religion.

[drew]

My friends; about a year ago I was asked by a friend of mine who happens to be a minister in the United Church of Canada to write and present a speech about the importance of Ritual in Religion.

The lecture I delivered was very "Christian". But I think to those of you who are not Christian, might still find some depth behind it. I presented it on Palm Sunday.



Firstly, I would like to thank the Congregation of Trinity Church for giving me the opportunity to speak here this afternoon. Of course, I wish to thank Shane as well for inviting me. I should introduce myself; my name is Andrew, or Drew if you’d like to be less formal. I am not a professional orator by any means, but I know Pastor Shane as Brother Shane as we both belong to the same Freemason Lodge in Musquodoboit Harbour. Shane has heard me give the odd lecture here and there, and asked me if I would deliver one here at Trinity this afternoon. Shane asked me if I could give a talk about ritual; and the importance ritual has in our lives. One of the things the Freemasons know very well is ritual. We can’t open or close a meeting without enough pomp and circumstance to make you think that you were attending a coronation,


As I was planning this talk, I had some difficulty separating what we refer to as Ritual and what is Tradition. In some ways, the two are very closely related. I guess I could have looked it up in a dictionary, but instead I contemplated the differences myself. I came up with this conclusion: A Tradition is an act that generally makes you feel good, or happy. Comfortable, might be a better word to describe how you feel about a tradition. A ritual however, might not be comfortable at all. It does however convey a sense of importance, or eminence to whatever it is connected to.

We experience rituals throughout our lives, and when they are missing, it can change the way that we interpret that which has great meaning to us. A baptism for example. In the eyes of the church, a baptism does not need to be performed by a minister, or clergy person. A baptism does not need to have both parents and God-Parents present. A Baptism is not required to be a huge event. There are instances when this happens; like when a newborn infant is not expected to survive long. A full traditional baptism, where the parents answer vows, the God-parents answer vows, the congregation answers vows; This ritual makes it seem so much more important. Like it is something that needs to be done. I don’t need to tell you that there are baptisms done for children of parents who have never stepped foot in a church in years, and really have no intention of doing so again. They STILL want their child baptised though. They still want their friends and family present. They still arrive in their best clothes and likely have the baby in a white gown. The God-parents, whether or not they ever intend to teach the child about God, find it an absolute honour to be asked. This ritual of baptism has transcended being a necessity to be a member of the Chirstian Church, and has become an important step in the life of a child and especially the parents.

Weddings. To be married in the eyes of the law, you need an officiant, be it a member of a clergy, a judge, a justice of the peace, or in some cases, the captain of a ship. The officiant needs only to hear the couple state that they wish to be married, and the marriage certificate needs to be signed. Could you imagine a wedding so lacking in formality? I am not naive enough to think that there are no non-traditional weddings out there; but even the most unconventional wedding ceremony takes its cues from the traditional ritual. There are still vows. The two getting married are still separated by the officiant until the conclusion. It is these rituals that mark these important steps in our lives. Just as there are rituals that mark important steps in our faith.

It was a great coincidence that I was able to give this talk today on Palm Sunday. One of the most ritualistic events in the church calendar other than Easter and Christmas. The ritual that we associate with this is rife with such an ironic bit of symbolism. We take palm leaves, just like those that the people of Jerusalem had strewn out in Jesus’ path, to show him how strong their love and admiration was for him. We twist and fold those symbols of love into the implement that less than a week later, the same people were calling for Jesus to be executed upon. An act, a ritual, which he accepted. Twisting up, and keeping these little palm crosses are a way of saying, “I love Jesus. Jesus is in my heart. Jesus loved me so much though, that was willing to die for my sins.”

In essence, that's all that needs to be said in Church, isn’t it? I love God, and God loves me.

It wouldn’t be much of a service though would it? Much of what we do in church is not for the benefit of God. It is for our benefit. It is to make the act of praying, the act of forgiveness, and the act of love seem greater. To seem more important. When the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, Lord, how shall we pray?” He taught them the Lord’s Prayer. The night before his trial, Jesus said to his disciples, “Take this bread as my body, take this wine as my blood, do it in remembrance of me.” He did not say, “Build a large building that looks like the inside of an overturned boat; decorate with the implement used in my death. When you pray I expect you to kneel at certain times, stand at others, recite specific prayers and creeds, and recreate my last supper. Decorate these buildings as beautifully as you can, but somehow also make the seats completely uncomfortable!”. That was all on us. That was us trying to make the act of praying seem even more poignant, even more powerful to ourselves. And for good reason! Prayer IS important. Asking God for his love while we offer ours is not a task that should be taken lightly. I do not believe though, that God would be more or less apt to listen to our prayers, whether or not we marked ourselves with the sign of the cross, and recited the Lord’s prayer first. But we do, don’t we? I suspect that those among us who do not go to church, who feel the urge suddenly to pray, be they scared, or in distress, will likely begin their prayer with “Dear God” and end it with an ‘Amen’.

When we lose a bit of those rituals that mean so much to us, it can change our way of interpreting things. I am going to use a non-church example:
For years, kids came home three of four times a year with their report cards. We know the smell of those report cards. We know the feel of them. By the end of year, we’d know each teachers’ handwriting. Nowadays, report cards are emailed. And that’s fine; it saves paper, and there’s less of a chance that someone loses it. Sure we lost the tradition of that great report card smell, but that seems a small price to pay to save a lot of paper.

In addition to the emailed report cards however, there is a service called, ‘PowerSchool’. It allows you to check -and you are encouraged to check- on your children’s progress consistently throughout the school year. You can see what homework they have everyday. You can see every mark that they made on every test and quiz. You know if they were late, if they missed a class, were late with an assignment, or aced an assignment. So when the report cards come home now, they don’t mean as much. You know their marks already. You can potentially know every bit of their school year, so what is the point of even getting a report card? I assume that before long, they will be gone altogether. Now I am not trying to stand in the way of progress. What I am saying is that the specific ritual of the kids bringing home that report card, the parents sitting down to read it; the need for that is gone. The ritual itself wasn’t directly taken away; but the need for it; the import of it, is now gone.

Churches, I fear, may be headed in that same direction. Or they may have been, had we not experienced what we have over the last two years.
Like Freemason Lodges, like Cub Scouts, and Girl Guides, like so many groups and organisations, Churches are finding their numbers dwindling. I am sure that the temptation was there to change our churches; to try and make them seem more approachable. To lose the traditions, and especially tone down some of the rituals. In fact, I am sure that it was more than a temptation. I know that many churches have already tried this approach to improve their attendance. That in itself should not seem like a bad idea. What would be wrong with bringing God’s message to more people? Jesus TOLD us to do that. But if we offer new congregates nothing of substance, no ritual, would they see any reason to attend? If all a Sunday service was nothing but a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, and to read some of the Gospel; well that’s something you can do at home isn’t it? Why bother getting dressed up? Why lose half of your weekend?

During the last two years however, with churches closing and opening, and closing, and opening with restrictions, we -the people who were already regularly attending- we felt like we were missing something, didn’t we? Don’t get me wrong, I am not denying the importance during a deadly pandemic of not having people congregate: the churches stepped up to the task, and led by example! Some churches held their services via Facebook, some over Zoom, still others had congregates park their cars at the church and listen to the service on their radios. Those were all noble attempts to recreate what we were missing out on. I highly doubt that very many new congregates were attainted. I could be wrong, but that was more for the current congregation to give them SOMEthing. It didn’t feel like church though, did it? Sitting home, with a coffee in your hand, laptop on the kitchen table, did NOT have the same feel, the same import, the same impact as going to church… as going to that overturned boat looking building with all of those crosses. I’ll bet the first Sunday for many of you to walk through these doors felt almost like coming home.

In reality, pandemic on-line services taught us two things; or two sides of the same lesson.
By having the services in general; it showed how important it is to true Christians to participate in the ritual of Sunday Worship; that we’ll try anything just to do it.
But it also taught us that without most of the rituals involved in Worship, the major effects it has on us were lost. We went through the motions, but we ourselves were motionless.

In conclusion; it is my hope that as churches wish to reach more people with the message of Christ, that they don’t lose sight of that. The ritual of Worship gives the Worship meaning.
So please: Reach out to your community, reach out to those in need, spread the message; but if you get new faces in your church, and you don’t offer them anything that they can’t do for themselves in the comfort of their own home; they will be far less likely to have those same feelings they we have all felt. If a baptism is nothing more than a splash of water, if a wedding is nothing more than a signature on a document, if coming to Worship is nothing more than the Lord’s prayer, and a reading from the gospel, then what is the point?

Usually, a good speech or a good lecture begins with an anecdote. I am going to end with one.
My Dear Mother, God Rest her Soul, every year for as far as I know, ever, would spend the night before Palm Sunday at the church with the other ladies tying up Palm Crosses. And every year, for as far as I know, ever would need someone to teach her how to do it. She seemingly forgot, year after year after year. She, unknowingly, created a ritual for herself. She needed one of the other ladies to hold her hands and guide her through the twists and folds it takes to make a perfect cross. She would then repeat it herself 30 or 40 more times that night; only to need to be taught again next year. That process of needing guidance gave her that importance, that ritual gave this seemingly arduous and mundane task of tying palm crosses meaning.

Last night, my wife and I, along with my father, spent the whole night tying palm crosses. As of today, I completely forget how to do it. “That was for you Mom.”

Thank you all for your time.
God Bless.

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Nice to see you around Drew. This thread was not what I was expecting. Nice comeback though.

I'll go away and read this when I have a minute, then return with something more relevant.

--A