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confession because they witness to the world what we believe. Using traditional ceremonies is a form of humility and submission. It is a discipline. I stand up to shake hands to this day because that is what my father taught me. It is impossible to worship without ceremonies. When our Lord admonished us to worship Him in spirit and truth He did not mean that we are to worship Him without ceremonies. He meant that we are to worship Him in faith and knowledge and not superstitiously. Everything we do in worship, even the fact that we are there, says something about who we are and who we believe God is. Everything we do outwardly in worship is ceremony and, therefore, confession. There is great freedom in ceremonies. God has not given us rules about the outward forms our worship takes. But that freedom is not without limits. It is not appropriate to change God’s Name to something more comfortable like “Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier” or to substitute grape juice for wine in the Holy Communion.That would be like being introduced to a man named “Mr. Smith” and saying,“I will call you Baggy Pants. It is a better fit.”We receive what God has given. It is not ours to change. It is also inappropriate and idolatrous to take on the worship forms and customs of pagan religions such as placing a Buddha statue on a cross or praying traditional Native American prayers to the Great Spirit in the Sky.That would be like meeting a man and mooning him or sticking out your tongue instead of shaking his hand. Despite the great freedom we have in worship, it is never appropriate to be irreverent or disrespectful of God. My dad taught me that men stand in order to shake hands. But not all men stand to shake hands. I often meet men who do not stand, and I do not mind. I know they are not being rude or disrespectful.That is the way they do it. They shake hands and say “Hello” or use some other such greeting.They listen to my name and say their own. And even though their ceremonies are slightly different than mine, they communicate the same respect. So it is that some of us have been taught to wear our finest clothing to worship, to treat an invitation to the Lord’s Supper with no less preparation or fuss than we would treat an invitation to the White House. Some of us
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hen I was twelve, I was at a restaurant with my dad when a friend of his came over to say hello. My dad introduced us and the man reached out to shake my hand. Still seated, I reached back to shake his hand, for which I received a cuff on the shoulder. My dad said,“You stand up to shake a man’s hand.”That is a lesson that has stuck with me. Even when people say, “Don’t get up,” I get up. I always stand to shake hands.
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What my dad taught me was how to act respectfully. He was making me behave so that I would seem respectful and courteous, whether I was or not.That is what ceremonies do.They are an outward sign, a form of communication.They are also a discipline of manners. We say “please” and “thank you” because we want to be courteous and thankful.These ceremonies tell those around us what we think is good. I would not have tried this with my dad, but I suppose I could claim the higher ground. I could insist that being respectful is the essential thing and not the outward act of shaking hands. When I meet people I could refuse their hands, remain seated, and not look them in the eye or listen when they said their names. But such inaction would also be a ceremony. It would say something about who I am and what I think of the person I was meeting, about what I think is good. No matter how respectful I might be in my heart, that respect would be a secret. No one would know it. Few would believe it. Ceremonies are a form of
