Traditions and rituals

So I was considering yesterday as I was reading the chapter in Spiritual Pathways about the Traditionalist and how the use of symbols, rituals, and liturgies really helps such a person connect to God, more so than other forms of worship and times of devotion and how such a person is such an "anachronism" in modern - or rather post-modern - society. In this post-modern individualistic society, rituals, liturgies, and routines are "constricting", "stifling", or just plain old boring. People claim they have no freedom to do whatever they want, that the structure stems their creative flows, that no one should be subjected to such structure because nobody can benefit from it.

Perhaps the above claims are somewhat extreme. I'm sure that many people I talk to would package the above in a more pleasant light - more along the lines of "Hey, if that's cool with you, go for it man." But the truth of the matter is that the traditionalist, liturgical, ritualistic worship is definitely not "cool" anymore. If it's "cool" with you - well that's just plain weird.

There's just something about the pattern of the prayers in the "Common Book of Prayer" that just strikes me. The reverence to God that the prayers encapsulate, the beautiful mixture of Scripture readings and prayers that have been said and read for hundreds of years, and the content of the prayers themselves that so encapsulate what I try to say in my prayers but just can't seem to say properly - it's all there. Within the context of the Christian faith, the liturgies and rituals don't seem boring and dead but exciting and full of life. Last Sunday at the Anglican service that I attended, it was just an amazing experience. I've never experienced a liturgical service before, but contrary to everything that I've heard, I felt a connection during the service that I've little felt at many worship services. Not once did I drowse and not once did my mind wander as I read through those prayers. In fact, it gave me so much peace and brought me to a place where I could completely rest and relax in the presence of God, even though I had my LSAT looming ahead of me. And it completely prepared my mind and heart as I listened to J.I. Packer speak on the doctrine of the Trinity and it opened up the eyes of my heart to comprehend in a different light the passage to be found in the Gospel of John where Jesus discussion with Nicodemus was recorded (chapter 3).

There is much that we, as young people, could learn from these ancient prayers in crafting our own. Though the more casual prayer might be a more culturally sensitive way of approaching it, there is much we could learn in the formality and the reverence displayed in the ancient liturgies.

It might not be for everyone. I'm not suggesting that the liturgical method is the best way for everyone - merely that we can learn a lot from it.

Makes me almost want to go to an Anglican church Sunday evenings.