Rituals are not dependent on how we feel or what we believe, at any given moment. They hold a power of their own – a power to move us beyond our everyday thoughts and concerns, a power to connect us with greater love and meaning. The liturgy that many of us sing, pray and enact week after week, is one example. Doing the same thing over and over allows the story of faith to seep into our beings, etching our ancestors’ songs of faith and God’s promises of love into our thirsty hearts.
This gives us a chance to remember these songs and promises when we need them. The ritual of our liturgy is an especially powerful way to remember who we are and whose we are. It can move us out of the realm of everyday concerns into a kairos moment. Sometimes all we need is that moment.
This message is excerpted from “Rituals and routines” by Jordan Miller-Stubbendick in the September 2020 Gather magazine.
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