Sunday, December 31st, 2023: "Connection through Ritual"

Watch the sermon here

First United Presbyterian Church

“Connection through Ritual”

Rev. Amy Morgan

December 31, 2023

Luke 2:21-38

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

 22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"),

 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.

 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law,

 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

 29 "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;

 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,

 31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

 33 And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.

 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed

 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed-- and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

 36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,

 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.

 38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

In 2019, columnist David Brookes wrote a piece entitled, “There Should Be More Rituals!” In it, Brookes contends that rituals hold a society together, marking life transitions, connecting us to community, concretizing spiritual experiences, and helping us make sense of the different chapters of our lives. He believes that it is especially important for us to practice communal rituals, to celebrate, mourn, and commit to one another in rituals that hold meaning for a whole society. 

The year after this piece was published, a pandemic hit that demolished what little public ritual we still had. Graduations, weddings, and funerals were cancelled or postponed. The everyday rituals of shaking hands or hugging, talking to people in line at the grocery store, going to school or into the office – these mundane routines were diminished, robbing them of their ritualistic potential. 

At a time when church attendance is at an all-time low in this country, along with other institutions with significant rituals like Scouts, Elks and Masons, and even the military, new public rituals have failed to replace what has been lost as these institutions decline. This correlates with generations of young people who are delaying adult milestones like marriage, parenting, and home ownership. It also correlates with generations that describe themselves as lonely and in search of meaning and purpose in their lives. 

Rituals are much more than perfunctory actions required for participation in defunct institutions. Rituals – whether they take place in a religious or secular setting – give structure and meaning to our lives, provide a sense of belonging and identity, and offer the possibility of sacred or transcendent experiences. Without them, we are adrift in a life without definition, purpose, or connection. 

When I was completing my Clinical Pastoral Education, a hospital chaplain training that is required for ministry candidates, our cohort included a young woman training to be a rabbi. In almost every group conversation, she would mention a ritual related to the experience we were discussing. She described rituals for every stage of life and many mundane parts of life – like going to the bathroom in the morning. There were rituals for illness and healing, for loss and new life. But every ritual she shared made those experiences sound more meaningful and connected to community. 

This is why Mary and Joseph came to the temple in Jerusalem 8 days after Jesus was born. They followed the rituals of their faith to make meaning of this incredible experience of giving birth to the Messiah, to connect him to his lineage and community, and to confirm his identity by giving him the name he had been given before he was born. Like all parents, Mary and Joseph realized that Jesus did not come with an instruction manual. And it was likely even more disorienting to be given charge of a helpless infant who was, they were told, the Son of God. Following the rituals of their faith - circumcision, naming, dedication, and sacrifice – provided the Holy Family with a sacred structure and community to support them and encourage them. 

In this ritual experience, Simeon and Anna step into the scene briefly to demonstrate the true wonder of ritual. They are an integral part of the community gathered at the temple, and they are able to provide context for the miracle that is Jesus. They connect him not just to the present community of first-century Jews, but also to the generations before them who had been looking forward to the redemption of Israel and to the future this child would make possible. 

Ritual does not only give meaning and structure to our present experiences, it also connects us to those who have come before us and to a future of hopeful possibility. High school graduations, for example, connect us with all those students who have graduated from our school in the past, who have claimed the identity of Thompson Valley Golden Eagles or Mountain View Mountain Lions. And this ritual celebrates the hopeful possibilities for these new graduates. 

The role of identity formation in ritual should not be undervalued. In the rituals Mary and Joseph perform at the temple, Jesus is given a divinely ordained name, claimed as a son of Israel, placed in right relationship with God and the Jewish community, and blessed with sacred purpose. What if every child knew that they were loved and intended and known even before they were born? What if every child were claimed by a community? What if every child knew that they were cherished by God and their neighbors? What if every child were blessed with sacred purpose? How different would our world be?

Author James Clear, in his book, Atomic Habits, asserts that the most effective way to change your habits is to change what you believe about yourself, to change how you self-identify. He uses the example of someone trying to quit smoking. If someone offers them a cigarette, and they say, “No thanks, I’m trying to quit,” this demonstrates that they still identify themselves as a smoker, and they are less likely to be successful in quitting that habit. If, instead, they say, “No thanks, I don’t smoke,” this demonstrates that they have changed their self-identity, and they are more likely to be successful at quitting. They have decided they belong to the community of non-smokers.

Rituals that affirm or even alter our identity have the possibility of transforming our whole lives. If we see ourselves as worthless and purposeless, we will live in ways that do not show love and respect for ourselves, and probably for others. But if we participate in rituals that tell us we are worthy, cherished, welcomed, and needed, we will, in time, transform into people who live in ways that demonstrate self-worth, our inherent value, gratitude, and intention. It is nearly impossible to simply will ourselves to change our beliefs about who we are. We need rituals, practices, communal activities that allow us to develop a different self-identity. 

If we hope to reverse the trends of loneliness and lack of purpose and identity, ritual is what we need more than anything. We need physical signs, communal celebrations, and common symbols that assure us we belong, encourage mutual responsibility to each other, and help us identify with our past, present, and future. We need rituals that mark life transitions and endow them with sacred meaning. We need rituals that help us claim our purpose and live into hopeful possibilities. 

The church is blessed with many of these rituals already. 

Baptism claims our identity as children of God and assures us we belong to the community of those who follow Jesus – past, present, and future. We make promises to one another to commit to mutual responsibility. We affirm that Baptism provides all that is needed to fulfill our sacred purpose in life. 

The Lord’s Supper is a tangible reminder of Christ’s sacrificial love. It offers an invitation to everyone to be nourished by the love of Jesus. It affirms the sacredness of physical things. It connects us to all who share this feast. It nourishes us for the work of God in the world. 

But the sacraments are not the only meaningful rituals of the church. We have rituals of weekly communal worship and daily personal prayer. We have rituals of confession and forgiveness, whether they are practiced corporately or individually. We have a ritual for sharing Christ’s peace with others in this community. And we have a ritual for being charged and blessed to take that peace out into the world. We have rituals for welcoming new members and saying goodbye to departing members. We have rituals for celebrating the life of our beloveds who have died. 

This particular church has its own meaningful rituals. Rituals of fellowship and sharing food. Rituals of welcoming children and glorifying God in song. Rituals of tending to the building and studying scripture. Rituals of connecting with our downtown neighbors and advocating for our neighbors in need. 

It may sound like I’m saying just about any part of our life can be claimed as a ritual. That’s because that is exactly what I’m saying. Any practice that we endow with sacred meaning and purpose, any activity that affirms our identity, anything that confirms our sense of belonging, can be a ritual. 

And I agree with David Brookes that we need more of them. Or, at the very least, we need to recognize more of them, sanctify more of them. We need to claim the ritual of sitting by the bedside of the dying, the ritual of singing with children, the ritual of going out for coffee or inviting someone over for dinner. These are all things that give us identity, belonging, and purpose. 

And perhaps we need to develop some new rituals. For starting a new job, for moving to a new home, for getting your first driver’s license, or for retiring. Maybe we need rituals to help us process difficult life events, too, like miscarriage, divorce, or a terminal diagnosis. Maybe we need rituals to bless and affirm people who work for the common good like teachers, first responders, those who work in medical care, or artists. 

It may sound exhausting to even think about having this many rituals in our lives. But think about what we have now instead: we don’t know who we are, where we belong, or what we’re supposed to be doing with our lives. If our days were filled with ritual, we would have everything to gain and nothing to lose. 

We in the church know how to do this, how to practice ritual and how to create it, better than just about anyone else in our society. We are uniquely equipped to live ritually and see the activities of our everyday lives through the lens of ritual. We can simply notice when we are doing something that affirms identity, connects us to community, and gives us purpose. When we or someone we know is approaching a life transition, we can consider and perhaps offer some ritual action – even if we don’t call it that – that helps them step through that threshold meaningfully. I’m not talking about burning candles and incense and chanting incantations. I’m talking about holding hands and offering words of affirmation and blessing. I’m talking about providing the tools needed for this next phase of their lives and connecting them to people who have gone through this before. I’m talking about naming the hope you have for them and the gifts God has given them for this exact moment in their lives. These are rituals. These are sacred activities. 

These are the rituals that assure us that we were named and known and loved, even before we were born. These are the rituals that tell us we belong to one another. These are the rituals that connect us to generations before us and give us hope for future possibilities. These are the rituals that inspire amazement, that bring peace, and that invite praise. By the grace of God, we can practice ritual in our lives, in our church, and in our community. 

To God be all glory forever and ever. Amen.