Church

I just got home from church a while ago. It was confirmation Sunday. Twenty-seven young Christians stood before the congregation and affirmed they were ready to take responsibility for growing in the faith. An entire congregation affirmed they would continue to support these young people in their growth. I love the rituals connected with my Christian faith.

Rituals are the one thing that I feel connects me to my Christian ancestors and links me to those who will come after me. Rituals also connect me to people I don't even know. Rituals are the familiar that welcomes me when I worship in a new place. Rituals are that tiny, strong thread that keeps the garment of the faith securely stitched together.

I miss the old, lengthier versions of some of of the things we do ritualistically. I especially miss the sacrament of Holy Communion in its lengthier version. I don't mind walking through a line and intincting on occasion, but there is nothing like going before the altar and kneeling and being served after the story of Christ's sacrifice has been retold through the ritualistic words that remind us just what we are about to commemorate. After the prayers. And the sung responses.

The confirmation ritual was enhanced today with each confirmand dipping his or her fingers in the baptismal font. I really liked that. I have seen Roman Catholics do that, but I understood why today. Sort of an 'Ah-ha' moment, an Epiphany, if you will, where I wished the United Methodist Church would have a font of water we could all touch as we entered for worship and prayer.

As in any family, it is the ritualistic associated with the gathering that speaks to me and comforts me. I know my family will always have ambrosia on Christmas day -- good Southern ambrosia and not that other stuff that people try to pass off as ambrosia and fill with canned fruit cocktail to avoid the long, tedious process of peeling oranges. We will have turkey and cornbread dressing and mashed potatoes and gravy and at least two kinds of cranberry and all the other traditional foods the family has always eaten on Thanksgiving Day. Name the day or the occasion and just thinking about the foods involved makes me salivate and I am disappointed if those foods are not part of the menu. It should be like that when we gather as a family in Christ. We should be so anxious for the spiritual 'food' that we can't wait to dig in to the feast.

Evolution and change are natural occurrences in this world. We have evolved and changed in the church as well. We have added praise songs. We have surrendered the King James Version of the Bible for more scholarly and easier to understand translations. We have several different styles of worship on any given Sunday. But, I do hope we will always have that thread of 'ritual' that passes through the fabric of worship from generation to generation that keeps us connected to the significant events in our faith.