THE ART OF RITUAL

The Rev. J. Friedel blessed the sacrements before the serving of communion on Pentcost Sunday.

A man kneels in prayer, making the sign of the cross as he enters a pew.

A pastor utters a prayer before observing the Lord's Supper.

A congregation, without instruction, rises to sing a doxology as ushers come forward with the offering collection.

Whether they know it or not, people participate in religious rituals nearly every time they enter a sacred building. Rituals play a role in both our cultural and religious lives. Most often, rituals are observed to mark rites of passage: Birth, baptism, marriage and death to name a few.

But the rituals and traditions of the religious community can provide some order to our lives. They are the basis for our shared beliefs and common history.

"Rituals are not just the routine," said the Rev. J. Friedel, director of Catholic Campus Ministries at Southeast Missouri State University. "Rituals embody the strongest parts of our beliefs."

Attend a religious service of any area congregation and you will notice that many are steeped in tradition and habit. Prayers, blessings, hymns and scripture readings give meaning to the service.

Sometimes the rituals of a worship service are helped along with set orders of service printed in bulletins that list the selection of hymns and prayers. Sometimes they aren't, yet many congregants find comfort in the ritual of corporate worship.

People can sing the words of a hymn without opening the songbook, they know at which exact moment to stand, sit, kneel or sing. They like the familiarity of worship, Friedel said.

But that comfort can also mean complacency, if taken to extreme.

"Ritual at its best reminds us of who we are and challenges us to be more of the same," Friedel said. But rituals that are performed without reflection "sometimes put us to sleep. It's like anesthesia, not stimulus."

Parishioners, congregants and followers of all religions practice some sort of ritual. Catholics take, bless, break and give the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ in Eucharist. Other denominations perform the ritual of baptism with sprinklings of water or immersion in water. Muslims pray five times a day, always facing west toward Mecca. Jews commemorate Passover as a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. Wiccans perform rituals to celebrate the cycle of the moon.

For any group, though rituals might not be the same today as they were hundreds or thousands of years ago, there is something timeless about ritual.

"A good ritual never exhausts its meaning," Friedel said. "There is always something new if you try."

The difficult part is not just going through the motions of the ritual but "doing it with full consciousness," Friedel said.

Even pastors can get trapped in the routine of ritual sometimes, said the Rev. Fred Poston, pastor of New Plymouth Community Church. Congregations must remember "Christianity means confrontation with God."

"Meeting God means change," Poston said. "Wherever I am, I am going to have to change when I meet God."

Poston helped organize the annual March for Jesus last week as an event that lets the community see a changing picture of the church. People aren't always excited about the traditional aspects of worship that they see, Poston said. The march "gives us a chance to present the gospel in a way that is more palatable for the young or those who haven't been in church."

Friedel agreed that change is necessary for meeting God. The Catholic church liturgy runs on a three-year cycle for readings. While the scripture selection repeats every fourth year, "I can't give the same homily four years later when it rolls through again because I've changed and people have changed and what's happening in the world has changed," he said.

"A good ritual anchors us with the time of our foundings but also propels us into the future," Friedel said.

Leaving behind rituals, which are steeped in tradition, isn't always the answer to the question of how to reach new groups.

Tradition "isn't always bad," Poston said.

Yet newer methods of worship styles, like contemporary songs and video equipment, help reach new audiences. "You can't stay where you are," Poston said. "If that's your mindset then you are resisting the spirit of God."

Christian life is continually being molded and shaped into the image of Jesus, Poston said.

Tradition and ritual helps people understand their roots, Poston said. "You've got to know where you come from and the roots of Christianity, but it didn't remain in the Jewish culture but as a gospel for all the nations."

Friedel encourages anyone hungering for spiritual direction to completely explore their religious faith first. "You have to commit to a path for a while to determine if you believe it is a right one," he said. "You have to know the depth of what's there."