Tradition and ritual ground us as human beings. Our memories of holidays and other special occasions are full of well-loved foods, music, clothing and repeated actions that connect us across generations and time, with what has been and what is yet to be.
The church is full of once-a-year traditions: waving palm branches on Palm Sunday, tolling the bell as names of loved ones who have died are proclaimed on All Saints Day, lighting candles on the Advent wreath. Taken together, these separate actions, performed once a year, tell the story of who we are as people of faith. The familiar words and actions anchor our lives, our relationships with God and each other. Even as we grow and change, we continue to order our lives by these rituals. Each time we encounter these rituals anew, we are slightly different people, tempered by current hopes and hardships, and at different points in our journeys through life and faith. Through actions and words that we share with the historic and global church, we are gathered into the inclusive, immense family of God across generations and time.
This message is excerpted from “A place for us all” by Jordan Miller-Stubbendick in the May 2019 Gather magazine.
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