LIFELESS RITUALS
Rituals
have lost their meaning in our cultural, especial in worship. The trend
in the
American church is for the liturgical free seeker friendly worship service.
Not only are the
stead traditional hymns replaced by more upbeat contemporary music but
various elements
of the services itself have been stripped away -e.g. the responsive readings,
unison prayers,
and calls to worship. The rational is that rituals lose their meaning through
repetition and
over use. This was the argument the reformers used when they changed the
Lord's Supper
from a weekly practice to either monthly or quarterly occurrence. Sometime
I wonder if
people still resist a weekly celebration of the Eucharist because they
just do not want to clean
the little cups so frequently. In any event, people in our over stimulated
society easily become
bored through repetition. We crave excitement and action. We are enticed
by glitz and glitter.
We are captivated by novelty. TV shows understand the dynamics of the human
psyche.
During any given show they will change camera angles 12 or more times during
a simple 10
second segment. They hold the viewers' attention by a constant barrage
of changing faces and
scenery.
We also tend to minimize rituals because they seldom deliver the spectacular.
The heavens do
not open. The light does not flash. We do not hear the Divine voice. After
the prayer has been
said, the water poured and the bread eaten, we still have the sameness
of an ordinary life. We
feel empty and disappointed. We had hoped for a dramatic event. We had
anticipated a
stunning transformation. We thought all temptation would be erased. All
weakness would be
metamorphosed into strengths. We had assumed that our life would change
like it did for
Thomas Anderson after he was baptized in the movie, The Matrix.
By day, Thomas Anderson worked in a small cubicle for a respectable software
company. He
felt that something was wrong with the world but he could not identify
the real problem. He
had an inner sense of dissatisfaction, a lack of fulfillment. His only
outlet was through his
hacker codename, Neo which he used to create and sell illegal software
programs. Anderson
discovered through a beautiful, black clad warrior named Trinity that the
world as he knew it
was a mirage. It was really a virtual reality created by artificial intelligence.
Human life was
not lived in the physical world. Life as he experienced it, was merely
a computer construct, a
complex matrix. Humanity had become enslaved to the machine. Human beings
lived
suspended in pods and are tapped for their energy. They literally had become
batteries for
the Matrix.
Borrowing heavily from Biblical symbolism, a prophecy had foretold that,
a Chosen One
would one day come and bring down the Matrix. An underground faction believed
that
Thomas Anderson, Neo, was The One. However, Thomas Anderson had to make
a choice, he
to decide whether he would accept his commission close his eyes to the
truth and allow his
memory to be erased. Anderson accepted his call and is baptized into a
new life. The change
is dramatic. He awakens from his entombment and suddenly set free. He is
reborn. He is
given a new life and a new destiny.
But this does not happen to you and me. When the water was sprinkled on
our heads nothing
changed. We still grew up to be self centered people, who struggle to put
others first, who
want our own way more than we are willing to compromise. Each time the
plate is offered
we take a piece of bread and eat it and drink from a small cup but we still
spend more time
storing up treasures on earth than in heaven. Our lifestyles remain the
same. We assume that
the problem is in the ritual. It appears to have lost its power. We assume
that our familiarity
has caused it to lose its meaning, so we stop saying our prayers that we
learned as a child. We
tell the pastor that we do not want to use those same creeds over and over
again, we do not
want to repeat words and actions that have lost their meaning. We expect
more spontaneity,
variety and freedom in worship. However, in our longing for an authentic
spiritual
experience we have lost sight of the true crux of the matter. The problem
is not in the ritual
but in us.
The ministry of John the Baptist is every preacher's dream. He did not
have to go in search of
an audience. He did not have to candidate in a neutral pulpit. He did not
have to practice his
delivery to refine his skills in dictation and elocution. He begins his
ministry in a remote
section of the country and news of his message spread quickly. The crowds
flocked to his
ministry. They had become tired of the lifeless rituals of the Pharisees
and their worn out
regulations. They were thirsting after a renewed relationship with their
God. They knew that
something was wrong with their world. They knew they were living a lie
and they wanted a
change. They longed to know the truth and to be set free from their enslavement
so John
called them to repent and baptized in the waters of the Jordon. They rose
from the river,
changed men and women.
The question we must ask ourselves is how can we recapture the power and
meaning of that
ritual in our lives today? How can that ancient rite become a living reality
for us?
ITS NOT A BUNCH OF HOCUS POCUS
First we must understand that there is nothing magical in the act itself.
It is just water being
poured upon the head, their just human words being said. The water and
the words cannot
create a mystical experience or endow anyone with supernatural powers.
In ancient history
the critics of the faith thought of Christianity as just another version
of Greek sorcery with
Greek sorcery, with rites, spells, and magical formulas, amulets, and artifacts.
The early
believers may have contributed to this by their preparation for baptism
and the actual ritual.
Before the service the priest would perform exorcisms over the candidates
and the
purification rituals could mistakenly be associated with similar magic
spells from the culture.
"The intonation of these rites had a semi-mystical quality and sounded
similar to the chants
used by Roman magicians. In fact, the phrase Hoc est corpus meum ('This
is my body') from
the Latin Rite of the Eucharist, was later adapted by magicians as 'hocus
pocus.'"1
Later in the worship service we will be using a set of questions and responses
based on these
early rites. There is nothing magical to the words. They merely symbolism
a deeper reality.
Our unison response cannot change a life or create a vision. They are only
the verbal
expression of an inward response.
THE CALL TO REPENTANCE
Secondly, we will only discover the real meaning of baptism by submerging
ourselves to its
life-changing realty through the repentance of sin. This repentance is
not merely a change of
heart, a feeling of regret. It is not an emotional feeling-sorry-for-my-sins.
Baptismal
repentance is the complete self-abandonment of an old way of life. A life
governed by
self-autonomy and pride. It is not a heroic act. It is an act of submission
and obedience. It is
submitting to the power of God, in total dependence upon the Creator of
the Heavens and
earth.
At the height of the Iranian hostage crises a pastor talked with a woman
who told about how
she had befriended an Iranian student. In the early stages of the revolution,
all access to
money in the banks was cut off. The young man offered to do some odd jobs
for the woman.
His financial condition continued to decline so she invited him to stay
in her home. She gave
him a room and he ate his meals with the family. The woman's neighbors
did not approve of
this arrangement. Unless the young man was willing to denounce the revolution
the
neighbors were not willing to accept him. They kept their distance. Her
pastor asked her,
"How did you come to befriend someone like that?" She pounded her
fist on the desk and
said, "Because I am a Christian, darn it. You think it is easy?" This is
the call of baptismal
repentance. The ritual is meaningless unless it is seen as complete dying
to self and a rebirth
to a new way of life that is seldom easy.
THE COMMUNITY EVENT
The ancient rite will become a living reality if we understand that it
is not an act of magic, it
requires a life changing response of repentance and we will always need
the fellowship of
other believers to nurture our faith.
One Sunday a pastor baptized two people. One was a man in his early 30s,
the other one a
three-month old baby girl. The middle-aged man had recently been converted
to the faith.
The parents of the child had been members of the church for many years.
The pastor took the baby from her mother's arms and baptized her. He then
said to the child,
"Mary, we have baptized you and have received you into the church. God
loves you and has
great plans for your life. But you will need the rest of us to tell you
the story, and, from time
to time, to remind you who you are, and to keep you in God's family. We
are going to
specially appoint some of our members to guide you and watch over you as
you grow in faith.
And all of us promise to adopt you as a sister in Christ." He then returned
the child to his
mother's arms and stepped toward the man.
The pastor asked the man to kneel at the baptismal font and poured water
over his head. The
pastor then asked the new convert to stand before the church and said to
him, "Tom, we have
baptized you and have received you into the church. God loves you and has
great plans for
your life. But you will need the rest of us to tell you the story, and,
from time to time, to
remind you who you are, and to keep you in God's family. We are going to
specially appoint
some of our members to guide you and watch over you as you grow in faith.
And all of us
promise to adopt you as a brother in Christ."2
Whether the water is poured on a child's forehead or the brow of an adult
the act and the
responsibility of both the believer and the community is the same. Baptism
is not an
individual experience. Ministers are not to baptize in children or converts
in a private
ceremony. When the water is placed on your head, you were baptized into
the body of Christ
and untied with other believers. God never intended for your faith to persevere
with just one
stunning spectacular event. Baptism is not an act of magic that was supposed
to transform
you into a super Christian. Our faith is strengthened through constant
reminders. Repetitious
rituals reinforce our beliefs. Our convictions are fortified by our reaffirmation
of vows that
were once made in our behalf.
CONCLUSION
We stand at the beginning of a New Year. It is an appropriate time to remind
ourselves once
again, who we are and who we intend to be. Along time ago someone may have
done it for
you. They may have answered the questions in your behalf. Since then you
have been
watching baby after baby come forward and receive the sacrament. Each time
you were asked
to remember your baptism and reaffirm you faith through the reading of
a Creed. Each time
you participated with perfunctory compliance. You never saw the heavens
open, you did not
hear any voices and each time you walked away pretty much the same. Today
you will be
invited to do it one more time. You will be asked to turn from evil, to
renounce the ways of
the enemy and to turn to Jesus Christ. You will feel the water that was
placed on your head;
water that claimed as a child of God. And then you will take the bread
and the cup. My
prayer for you is that in this three part dance, that you will experience
the transforming love
and grace of God.
1. David Cassidy, "Defending the Cannibals, "Christian History Magazine
Issue 57 1998,
Vol.XVII, No. 1, ChristianityvToday, Inc., p. 12.
2. William H. Willimon, "Family-from out of nothing," Pulpit Resource,
Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 3-5 |
