Category Archives: Language

Ritual and The Everyday

We live in a ritualized world. To me that seems very basic; however, I do not think we consider this that often. When I walk into a restaurant, I can generally anticipate what will occur. I can do this because of ritual. My world is thrown out of whack when the ritual is not followed. A good example of this is when you call a business and the receptionist picks up and just says, “Hello.” Although such a statement would be normal calling a person, we all know that such a remark in a business call would not work– not just inappropriate, but actually mess up the normal modes of communications. Ritual. It’s the stuff life is made of. Every culture (and subculture) creates its own rituals.

Religion and spirituality is about ritual. These rituals distinguish, separate, create, identify, and even destroy (destruction of former friendships, identities, rituals, etc.). In this way, religion creates the sacred, or more accurately names what is sacred and what is mundane or ordinary or profane. Over the past 500 years, much of what western religion deems sacred revolves around what I call moralisms. In other eras (and in other cultures here in the present), religion often revolved around other aspects of life (such as food, crops, government, military, etc.).

What I find most interesting is that in my current privatised, individualised western culture religion and its ritulas can often be relegated to just a section of life rather than a holistic system of everyday existence. In our dualist culture, singing “religious” songs is considered holy or sacred whereas dining together is considered common/mundane. Baptism is considered a spiritual act but a drink with a friend at a coffee shop or pub is considered ordinary, even profane. However, if all of life is a set of rituals perhaps all of life can be sacred. Mowing the lawn might possibly be a “spiritual act” if the proper rituals are assigned to it by a community/culture.

How do we make the ordinary sacred? The usual answers will not suffice: praying over a meal does not make it sacred for the meal itself should be sacred itself– at least in my opinion. The prayer is another ritual that occurs in the midst of the ritual of the meal. I think that something else must distinguish a sacred meal from a profane meal (probably much more than just one thing). What are these things?

Appreciative Inquiry

I love appreciative inquiry. Some of you may be asking, “what is appreciative inquiry?” It is the act of exploring/discovering the best in ourselves and the world around us usually through a questioning process that affirms past and present potentials and successes. The goal of appreciative inquiry is to find those things that bring life into the systems we interact with.

Even in the worst situations, something good is occurring and should be identified. This does not mean that we ignore the negative or sugar-coat it. Rather by identifying the good, we can leverage the positive in order to create a foundation for change. What we focus on creates our reality. If we are focusing on the negative, then we will continue to reinforce the negative. However, if we choose to focus on the positive, we will continually reinforce the positive over time.

Appreciative inquiry primarily relies on questions because the act of asking a question begins the change process. Questioning often requires a naming/describing process to occur. Finally, a person or system can move confidently into the future when they are able to carry the best parts of their past with them.

I have been exploring appreciative inquiry for a few years now. The Associate Pastor at my church and I have used it in many situations with very positive results. I am now using it as I explore faith and calling with families in my youth ministry. I will keep you updated on this progress. More on appreciative inquiry in the future.

Stewarding Our Stories

I have been working with our stewardship team at UPC over the past year. It has been incredible to be included in their journey. They are a very creative and imaginative group of people (yes these are the “finance” people! It’s hard to believe). Over the past few years, they have helped our congregation rethink the idea of stewardship– expanding it far beyond budgets and fund-raising.

They have any expanded it beyond time, talent, and treasure (the now classic Christian definition). Over the past year, our team has articulated two very important ideas regarding stewardship:

1) We must steward our relationships. This can be interpersonal relationships such as connections with co-workers or parents/children. This can be intra-organizational such as the youth ministry’s connection to the worship committee. It is also inter-organizational such as our relationship with another church or Christian organization. Finally, it must include the relationship between our church and our neighborhood, our church and the local university, our church and the city, etc. We MUST steward our relationships.

2) We must steward our story(ies). Everyone has a story that is vitally important to identity and vocation. When we encounter someone new, a basic exchange of stories begins (Hi, may name is…. and I work…. and I am married…., etc.). Over time, these stories unfold into something far more complex and interesting. So too, our church has a story. It is these memories of the past that can give us imagination for the present and future. Thus, it is vitally important that the congregation and its leaders tell stories that form the core of the congregation’s identity.

Stewardship is so much more than finances. It is about identity and vocation. Who am I and what am I to do? Who are we and what are we doing? Who am I connected to? What webs are we a part of? What new strands/connections do we want to make? This is stewardship!