The Analogy of Rituals – 1

Parents are responsible for helping to form and shape a child’s overall mental map of reality. If they neglect to do so, there is no telling how the child will interpret the ‘facts’ of the gospel. Those facts are not autonomous, and the miracle of regeneration is not usually accomplished without the Spirit’s use of means. Jesus might have turned water into wine, but He had some servants fill the water pots first. In the case of a child’s regeneration, parents are those means, filling the water pots, shaping the imagination so that the Spirit will make use of that favourable disposition towards the Christian message.

We have considered how the parents’ piety, roles in the home and routines are critical to shaping the child’s religious imagination. We now consider a fourth powerful shaping force. Deuteronomy 6:8-9 says,

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

It is possible that Moses wanted Israel to do something physical, such as writing out some Scripture, since people did not have a copy of the Law for themselves. But more than likely, God was saying through Moses that Israel was to fill their homes with things that served as signs and reminders of God as the ultimate reality. The Israelite home was to teach and instruct love for God not only by the piety of the parents, the godly roles, the God-centred routine, but also by ritual.

Evangelical Christians hear the word ritual, and typically respond with nervous suspicion. For those who prize genuine conversion and piety, ritual has connotations of dead religion, empty ceremony or even hypocrisy.

What is a ceremony or a ritual? It is an event which carries special meaning, performed on a special occasion. Weddings are rituals, ceremonies done on special occasions. All that we do at that ceremony has meaning: the way the bride and groom are dressed, what music is played, what is said, and the use of symbolic rings. The same is true of funerals, birthdays, graduations and inaugurations.

If you read the book of Leviticus, you will find that the worship and service of God in the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple, contained elaborate ceremony. The Levites followed God’s prescriptions for the various rituals of cleansing and sacrifice to the letter. The Israelite’s life was filled with laws, rituals and ceremonies, prescribed and designed by God.  Here and there, God explained what the teaching purpose was of these rituals and ceremonies:

 ”that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, (Leviticus 10:10)

God filled the life of Israel with ceremonies that helped the Israelite to see the difference between worship and selfishness, between a life lived only for things under the sun, and a life lived with a perspective of things above the sun. To put it in modern language, God was rescuing the Israelite from practical atheism, from what we would call practical secularism. By clothing life in all kinds of symbols, God was frequently reminding and teaching that He was the ultimate reality.

Further, God knew that ceremony and ritual are some of the most memorable tools for teaching children.

  ”And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.   ”It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service.  ”And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’   ”that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” (Exodus 12:24-27)

Notice that God predicts that the ceremony will provoke a question from the child. That’s the idea. Any well-planned ceremony has all kinds of symbols and procedures and manners which have meaning. It’s the joy of children to observe and wonder, and the joy of parents to explain.

Inevitably, someone will say, “All that ritual belonged to the Old Testament. The New Testament is free of ceremony and form and ritual.” Not true. What is baptism, but a ceremony, a ritual, in which we use a symbol to convey a deep, transcendent meaning? What is the Lord’s Supper except a ritual, a ceremony, in which we use various symbols to convey special meaning? In fact, every Sunday worship service is a ceremony, in which we read the Scriptures, pray the Scriptures, sing the Scriptures and preach the Scriptures. Properly done, this ceremony will deeply shape the imaginations of children who have yet to grasp the realities of the gospel.

God is not against ceremony or ritual. He is against ceremony and ritual that points only to itself. He is against ceremony with evaporated meaning, performed by loveless, disobedient hearts. He is against ceremony which is unbiblical or promotes a false gospel. He is against additions or subtractions from prescribed worship.

Our next post will consider some of the rituals crucial for shaping a child’s imagination.

© 2012, David de Bruyn. All rights reserved.

David de Bruyn

David de Bruyn completed Media Studies and a Bachelor of Theology in his native land, South Africa, before pursuing the Master of Arts in Theology through Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was ordained to the ministry in 2005, and currently pastors New Covenant Baptist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa. Since 1999, he has presented a weekly radio program that is heard throughout much of central South Africa. He also blogs at Towards Conservative Christianity.

Related posts:

1. The Analogy of Routines
2. The Analogy of Parental Piety
3. The Analogy of Family Roles