Godly Rituals

by David Haberstock

A few Sundays ago I was one of five people present at my local church for the livestreaming of the service. I helped lead and support the singing with my voice and a keyboard. Afterward, in an extremely socially distanced fashion, those present received the Sacrament of the Altar using the “Service of the Sacrament” from one of the settings in Lutheran Service Book.

It had been a while since I’d received the Sacrament. Christ’s sacramental presence with us in the bread and wine, through the Word, was a blessed comfort to me. But I was surprised, after some weeks of absence, at how comforting going through the ritual of the liturgy was.

Ritual is tradition. It is a repeated pattern of actions and texts that we do over and over again because they are important. Anything important needs to be remembered, practiced, and passed on. That’s what’s tradition is: the things you pass on through repetition. The things you value so highly you do them all the time, with others. The things, ultimately, that make life worth living and give it shape and meaning. The ritual a husband has with his wife of kissing each day when he comes home; the ritual a parent has with their child of how they greet them or wake them in the morning; the ritual you have of how you stumble out of bed each morning, and which leg you put in your pants first; or when you drink coffee or tea. These rituals mark and shape our lives, for good or ill (hopefully for good!).

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures… | 1 Corinthians 15:3

We deliver or hand on to others what is most important to us. We deliver it by what we repeat week by week, year by year. For what we repeat—what we give our time and attention to—leaves a mark on our lives, and the lives of those around us. It becomes a comforting old friend. Even when you get stuck in unhealthy rituals in your relationships, when those oft repeated patterns are absent you can miss them, even when you know they are killing you!

Ritual can be such a blessing. We are creatures of habit. People who learn by repetition. And how blessed is it when our traditions pass on not merely the comfort of habit but the risen Lord Himself! Jesus gave us the best ritual of all—His Supper—to be oft repeated. Through His institution and promise, this supper imparts to us not merely a habit, but Himself! Imparting Jesus is also why the Church in her wisdom passed on to us a liturgical calendar of weekly Scripture readings, repeated year by year.

I am missing that beautiful ritual right now in the full expression of the Divine Service. I am missing those oft repeated words of life. I am missing the familiar texts (Kyrie, Gloria in Excelsis, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Nunc Dimittis, and so forth—even the corporate confession of sins) that the Church in Her wisdom has selected to hand down to us through the ages. I am missing the actions that go with those words: bowing the head, crossing myself, kneeling, and so forth. I was always a bit hyperactive and fidgety as a kid, and the traditional actions of the liturgy teach and focus my body and soul beneficially. I am missing singing together with all the saints. I am missing seeing my brothers and sisters in Christ in their familiar pews.

Ritual can often seem so humdrum. But in times like these, the meaning in the godly rituals of our liturgy burst forth from hiding. It was so comforting to sing those texts with just a few saints (as well as the angels and archangels) that Sunday, and to sup on the bread of life, my Saviour’s own body! That godly ritual gave me such contentment and peace (as Christ Himself promises).

During these days I pray you both crave the godly rituals of your past, and seek out new Christ-filled rituals in this socially distant world that bring Jesus to you day by day as you hear Him preached, turn to Him in prayer and praise, and receive Him as you read His Word. And maybe you’ve even been able (in a safe and socially distant way), with some small gathering at your church, to receive the greatest tradition that Jesus handed on to us: His own body and blood given for us to eat and drink. If not, I pray that we may one day soon be able to gather, if not as the whole congregation in one place, in smaller groups to receive these blessed rituals that deliver to us Christ Jesus Himself.

Rev. David Haberstock is Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC)'s Central Regional Pastor.