Rooted in Ritual

Luke 2:21-38

Carefully, she wrapped her newborn in strips of cloth to swaddle him gazing into his eyes, cooing to him as he whimpered. Gently, she lifted him to nurse, humming a lullaby as she swayed in the night, and when the warm milk began to drip down his chin rather than down his throat and his eyelids became too heavy for him to hold, she laid him down in the manger. It was the beginning of a ritual she would repeat over and over again in the coming months, each time – like all parents – teaching him how to trust. That is the gift of ritual – it roots us and allows trust to grow.

Following the rituals of their faith, on the eighth day, Mary and Joseph had their newborn baby boy circumcised and gave him the name the angel instructed, not his father’s name, but the name Jesus, which means “he saves.” Then when he was 40 days old, they went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented him, their firstborn son, to the Lord. This ritual was done in remembrance of the Passover, when Pharaoh continued to deny Moses’s pleas to release the Israelites from slavery, and in one night all the firstborn sons of Egypt died while all the Israelite sons were spared. This plague finally convinced the Egyptians to release the Israelites from bondage.

Why does Luke tell us that Mary and Joseph observed these rituals? First, Luke is writing in a time when the followers of the Way of Jesus are becoming more and more separate from their Jewish roots. More and more Gentiles were being converted, and a lot of folks wondered how much of the Jewish way of life really even still applied to them. So, Luke clearly is telling the story of a child born into a good, Jewish family to emphasize that Jesus was raised by faithful Jewish parents. Luke also reveals that these parents were not rich, in fact, they had rather humble means, with only a pair of doves or two young pigeons to offer. If they could have afforded it, they should have given 5 shekels to the priests and a sheep for sacrifice when they presented Jesus, their firstborn, in the Temple to be consecrated to the Lord. But they brought what they had to offer, the lower cost option, and were blessed by those they met there.

It was a tender moment. The young, new mother and her protective, faithful husband bringing this child whose birth was foretold them by angels and whose birth announcements were delivered by angels to shepherds. This child was born was when they couldn’t find any room, as they desperately tried to satisfy the tyrannical decrees of the Roman authority, and his name was to be “he saves.” Surely, there was more to this 6-week old than they would ever understand. Unsure of everything except that there was so much they didn’t know, they came, seeking to follow the rituals of their faith.

Rituals root us in community, anchoring us when everything around seems to be shifting sand.

The rituals that Mary and Joseph observed with Jesus – the rituals of circumcision and presentation are the roots of our ritual of Infant Baptism.

At the time of the Reformation, two rituals were held up as Sacraments, times that common elements by God’s grace root us, trusting in God and belonging to God’s beloved community – both Sacraments are rituals that Jesus commissioned us to practice – the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Communion. In the waters of baptism, we receive God’s grace and are claimed as God’s own, setting out on the journey of faith. In the breaking of the bread and drinking of the cup, God’s grace and claim on us is affirmed and we are nourished for continuing the journey of faith.

The Sacraments are rituals that are observed within the ritual of worship. Look at your bulletin and notice the rituals we observe every time we worship. We gather in joy – the bells toll, the candles are lit (candles have served as a symbol of God’s presence since the Israelites were wandering in the desert after they escaped from bondage in Egypt…they lit the golden lampstand in the tent of the Tabernacle), we are welcomed and we welcome one another. And then we prepare individually for worship, a time of quiet reflection, a time to pray, to read for ourselves the prayer of preparation, to allow the music of the prelude to center our spirits and focus our minds on worship.

Then we enter God’s presence as a community. The Call to Worship often is based on a psalm, the original hymnbook of the Israelites. Mary and Joseph, carrying their newborn, would have been part of a community of people singing Songs of Ascent as they climbed up to the Temple Mount, going to worship. In the same way, we follow their ritual singing a hymn of praise as we come to worship.

As we approach God, we are aware that we are not worthy of coming into God’s presence, and so we are called to reconcile all our relationships, we confess our sins, are assured of our forgiveness, and then confess our faith. As they approached the Temple, Mary and Joseph made sacrifices to atone for their sins. Now, we affirm that in Christ we are forgiven.

The ritual in the gathering section of our worship is almost a call and response – we come to worship, God calls us to come closer, to come closer we confess, God forgives, in response we affirm our faith and share a glimpse of it with the children.

And then we ask God to nurture and deepen our faith through the Prayer of Illumination, followed by reading Scripture and the Sermon.

The Prayers of the People are meant to include the concerns God’s creation and God’s church, global concerns and local concerns, concerns for our enemies and concerns for our loved ones, followed by the Lord’s Prayer. When we make our offering, like Mary and Joseph, we offer what we have in thanksgiving for God’s blessings, perhaps a pair of doves or a sheep, or money or service, and we pray God will use what we consecrate for God’s purposes, whatever we have to offer. And then we prepare to go into the world, blessed and prepared to follow God’s light into even dark shadows to share God’s love.

Rituals are like waves on the rocks, slowly they form and shape us, and they are like the roots of a tree, holding us in place as the winds blow. Over the course of her life, we don’t know how many times Mary was in the Temple as another young mother presented her firstborn son. Surely, each time, Mary was reminded and pondered again in her heart what Simeon and Anna’s words meant. And then, as Mary cried at the foot of the cross, I can’t help but think she remembered back to the day they met Simeon and Anna at the Temple, their words echoing in her thoughts:

My eyes have seen God’s salvation, a light to the Gentiles, the glory of your people Israel, the redemption of Jerusalem. The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too, Mary.

The repetition of that ritual whispered God’s promises to her soul over and over again; the memory of the ritual as they presented Jesus served as an anchor even as he hung on the cross in the wind. It’s through rituals that we remember the faithfulness of God in the past and gain trust in God’s promises for our future. And it is through rituals that we open ourselves to God transforming us and working through us.

What rituals shape you? The rituals of Baptism and Communion remind us who we are and whose we are. Weekly we gather as a community to worship, to grow closer to God as we study the Way of Christ, and to be renewed to go into the world with the good news of God’s love and vision for life on earth.

This year, I am committing to a new ritual. I invite you to join me in being shaped by two questions when you plan your day – instead of a New Year’s resolution to pray more or exercise or eat better or whatever else you might be considering, I invite you to commit with me to asking yourself every day these two questions, known as the rule of life, that come from the late 400’s, from an Italian Christian monk named Benedict.

Question 1: Who do I want to be?
Question 2: How do I want to live?

These are not automatically religious questions, I know. They could easily be listed as self-help habits to achieving your goals in life. Habits, though, are things you do over and over again until you don’t even have to think about it. They could be listed as a practice, an exercise to engage in to improve our lives. But, I invite you to adopt these questions as ritual, in conversation with the ritual of Baptism – you are a beloved child of God. Who do you want to be?

And the ritual of Communion – remembering Christ’s forgiveness and example, nourished for the journey of faith – how do you want to live?
Each Sunday may we be rooted in ritual, and may we go into the world prayerfully seeking to live as a beloved child of God and to follow Jesus Christ’s example.