The Power of Ritual

by Elder M. Lindahl

Making light of ritual was common among some of the old pietists. Rituals, they said, were empty, and the liturgies containing them dry, formal, and dead. Pastors who observed set forms of worship were sometimes regarded as unspiritual — they had, in the words of II Timothy 3:15, the form of religion but denied the power thereof. The word "ritualism" became a shibboleth. Avoid prescribed phrases, be spontaneous, let the Holy Spirit move, and don't wear a robe.

The 19th century Danish religious writer, Sören Kierkegaard, often criticized the formality of church rituals. He tells of the young father who wanted nothing to do with religion, but who, once he was married and had a child who needed to be baptized, became, unconsciously and unintentionally, an Evangelical Lutheran.

... To have religion in that way is, spiritually considered, a pitiful comedy. A person has no religion; but by reason of family circumstances, first because the mother got into the family way, the paterfamilias in turn got into embarrassment owing to that, and then with the ceremonies connected with the sweet little baby — by reason of all this a person has — the Evangelical Lutheran religion.¹

Kierkegaard meant that baptism, originally an important rite for Jesus as He began His life work, had in the 19th century become a meaningless social ritual promoted by the priests for profit. Rituals function as part of a whole system of fixed beliefs to which the Established Church gives credence. The sad part is that people come under the illusion that they are Christians because they participate in such a system of creeds and ceremonies. New Testament Christianity, by contrast, demands that individuals take a "leap of faith," by themselves alone, that they suffer and live in solitary oneness with the God-man. Kierkegaard's dominant question is: What does it mean to be a Christian in Christendom?

I remember some more recent attacks on rituals, religious and secular, at North Park College in the '60s. Why have required chapel? Why have homecoming? Why have cheerleaders? Why have a graduation ceremony? "Why wear these stupid mortar boards and gowns? We'll just take off — send the diploma. On second thought, who needs a diploma?"

Now, there is certainly something to be said for thoughtful, creative updating and changing of ritual. Not all rituals are worth keeping; they are not etched in stone. For example, it's good that most couples omit the part in the marriage ceremony where the wife promises to obey her husband. Too, the question preceding "Speak now or forever hold your peace," is best explored in premarital counselling. Other examples of necessary revision could be given.

But sometimes modification goes too far. I remember the way some young people in the '60s. rejected the traditional words of the wedding ceremony. One couple persuaded me, I'm sorry to say, to marry them using some non-traditional vows they had written, ones which included the phrase: "till death of our love do us part." It wasn't long before their mutual love died, and they went their separate ways.

Modification also went awry, in my opinion, in a Sunday Morning service of a megachurch we attended recently in a huge gymnasium in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. Some 2,000 people, dressed variously — from beach wear to business suits — had gathered. In the midst of overhead video projections, contemporary music, and flashing lights, communion was allegedly served. No words of institution were spoken. Juice and crackers were passed around quite efficiently and quickly. The young man who served our row wore a T-shirt, shorts and gym shoes. After serving, he returned to his bleacher seat and drank a can of pop. In the absence of words of institution, did those who thought they took communion really take communion?

Rituals have a vital power and a significant function. Pietists have become much more positive and realistic about the relevance of rituals today. We know that the critical passages of life — birth, puberty, marriage and death — mean change, transition, loss, and new possibilities, and require compensatory rituals to reestablish a sense of stability and solidarity. Rituals, the late Joseph Campbell says, "...supply the sign stimuli adequate to release the life energies,..."² Rituals are symbolic events which "...carry the human spirit forward in counteraction to those other constant human fantasies that tend to tie it back."³ In other words, Campbell affirms that rituals have real power to move us forward, to transform losses and difficult changes into a sense of fulfillment and healing.

Archbishop Gunnar Weman of Uppsala, reflecting on the approaching separation of the Lutheran Church from the Swedish state, noted an important change in the way he thinks about ritual. "When I was younger I spoke against so many people being in the church only for baptisms and weddings and funerals....But now I see how these rites endure in people's lives."⁴

My barber, Bridget,chatting during a recent haircut, testified to the way ritual became important for her. Her mother had just died, and prior to that, she said, rituals made little sense. They were simply empty words uttered solemnly by preachers. But her experience changed all that. When all the relatives came to her mother's funeral from far and wide, she related that there was little to hold the sad, despondent family members together. Her stepfather was unable to provide a new sense of solidarity or stability for the grieving family members. It took the funeral ceremony, with its liturgy, hymns, and old words, to provide mysterious contact with a Transcendent Power. As she put it, "participating in an old ritual brought healing and hope to our family." Ritualized family closure was absolutely significant.

In August, we encountered anew the power of ritual at our son Paul's wedding. The short ceremony, in its beauty and symbolism, was packed with profound meanings. Watching our lovely granddaughter, Becca, strewing rose petals in the path of our beautiful bride, Lora, brought tears to my eyes. (And that was but a small part of the entrance processional.) Trumpet and organ, the traditional symbols of the Faith, the special dress of the participants, and the beauty of the stained-glass windows and flowers made the occasion reverent and unforgettable. The words of greeting, declarations and responses, the Scripture, meditation, prayers, the vows, exchange of rings, blessing of the manage, and the going forth were all powerful reminders. John Denver's "Perhaps Love," Malotte's 'The Lord's Prayer," and Handel's Hornpipe from "The Water Music," filled the sanctuary and our spirits with festive joy. At the heart of it all was the ritual recognition for Lora and Paul of a significant transition from their single states to the married state.

Human existence has regular time cadences which involve both necessary losses and emerging possibilities. The need for ritual is bound together with these times of transition. Ritual and ceremony inspire us to leave life's old stages and prompt in us the courage to embrace its new ones. The passages of life and the changing seasons of the church year — Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and Trinity — require ceremonial attention and notation.

"In liturgy," wrote Gertrud Nelson, "we recover the value of ritual, rhythm and the richness of symbol which in turn give back meaning to our human existence."⁵ When we reach for and encounter the Transcendent in ritual we are more than compensated for the losses of the old and encouraged to embrace the new. Ritual acts reaIIum deeply held beliefs and bring about community. Through ritual we experience the Eternal aspect of what's going on in the temporal changes of life.