On Ritual

The Oxford Dictionary's primary definition of tradition is a "custom handed down to posterity," often in the form of ritual, defined as "procedure regularly followed."  The fundamentalist sect in which I was reared denied having tradition or ritual, but if a supply preacher offered three prayers instead of two between the opening and second song, all hell would break loose, so to speak.  My point is that all humans have traditions, expressed in rituals, many of which we do unconsciously.

The rituals of the Church are conscious and intentional, but why do we do them?  Is there a rationale beyond simply repeating what we have done for centuries and millenia?  The answer is yes; ritual is solid and essential to our faith and practice.

First of all, ritual is how we celebrate who we are as Catholic Christians.  This is our communal dimension, as we worship together as brothers and sisters.  We share the strong bond we have as  members of a "second family" into which we were born and adopted through holy baptism.

We celebrate, however, in apostolic order  At the Eucharist, for example, the priest, as stand-in for Jesus, takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, declares it Christ's Body and distributes it.  In the same way, the celebrant blesses wine, declares it to be Our Lord's Blood, and gives it out.  In this way we repeat a ritual, done by Jesus who commanded us to carry it on. We use vessels of precious metal as very appropriate to the importance of Communion.   In reference to another Sacrament, in John's Gospel, the Risen Christ tells his successors that whose sins they forgive are forgiven, whose sin they retain are retained.  In this way, the Church was authorized by Jesus to continue his important ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Second, ritual is educational.  For example, in the Rosary there are four sets of "mysteries," or great Christian stories, to be pondered while the Marian mantra is recited.  This reinforces our engagement and understanding of twenty key truths of our Faith.  During the illiterate middle ages, the rosary was a substitute Bible teacher.  Likewise, as we faithful touch holy water upon entering and leaving the worship space, we remind ourselves that it is through the water of baptism, we "entered" the Church and that, because of the covenant of baptism, we are sent our from there to be Christ in the world.  In fact, the root of the word "Mass" is the Latin for sending forth.

Third, ritual has an emotional dimension.  When we kneel to pray, or when he smell incense at a high service, memories of other persons and other times come floating back to us.  Weddings rings are the sign of a deep commitment between the couple, which is why we don't light unity candles during the nuptial mass; the symbolism of the rings is powerful and sufficient.  Why create a new tradition?

Finally, ritual serves a theological purpose.  Rituals point to One higher than ourselves, to the power source in the universe, the ground of being, the ineffable Deity we seek to love and serve.  Rituals refine and define us as Episcopalians and help us to draw near to God.