Empty Rituals

 

There is an interesting balance we have in our spiritual growth. The key to it, is to develop holy and healthy routines. We like to call these “spiritual disciplines”. These are things that we do on a regular basis. These are things that we would miss from our day if we left them out. These are important things that help us to focus on God and our relationship with him.

Now here is the conundrum in developing such a pattern, habit or routine. It becomes a routine.

Definition of Routine: (noun)a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program. (adjective)performed as part of a regular procedure rather than for a special reason.

As a noun it is pretty benign, but as an adjective, well, we have a problem.

Anything we do in our faith as a fixed program or a regularly followed action that loses its purpose is a problem. Did you catch the definition in adjective form? “Something performed as a part of a regular procedure rather than for a special reason.”

If our spiritual practices become procedures that we simply do as a routine and for no special reason, they have lost their importance.

When our sacred routines become empty rituals, they lose their “sacredness” all together.

Routines are important and a necessary part of life. Most of us probably go into some kind of auto-pilot each morning as we shower, brush our teeth and put on some deodorant. (For the sake of our family and friends... and our social lives I highly recommend practicing these routines with some kind of regularity.) If we don’t we’ll soon be reminded why they’re so important.

The catch is, that routines that are great in some areas of our life, can become dangerous in other areas of our life; like our spiritual lives.

One of the greatest dangers we face spiritually is forgetting why we do the “sacred” routines of our lives. When we start to simply “go through the motions” of our spiritual disciplines, we are in trouble.

When we read the Bible without really thinking about the text.

When we pray prayers, we’ve prayed all our lives simply out of habit without considering the meaning of what we’re saying.

When we sing songs to God that only stir sentimentality in us rather than a deep time of worship.

Those are red flag moments of our faith life.

As Exodus 20 says, we have a jealous God. Jealous in the sense that God does not like when we give something to another that belongs to him.

Our worship belongs to him and him alone, but if we get too caught up in rituals we wind up giving it away to routine or simple sentimentality.

God wants us to sing him a new song! How do we know this? We see it in Psalm 96, Psalm 98, Psalm 149, Psalm 33:3, Psalm 144:9 and Isaiah 42:10.

Do you think God is trying to tell us something?

This is the type of thing we should be pondering those times when we sit with scripture and allow God to speak with us through the words.

We have a creative God. We have an inventive God who wants his people to come to him with spontaneous, sincere and personal worship. He doesn’t want a regurgitated routine or repetitive habit.

This doesn’t mean we have to stop singing old songs or saying age old prayers; but it does mean we have to make them our own. We have to understand what we’re praying and singing. It needs to mean something to us; something more than sentimental ritual.

We should be singing the songs we sing in Sunday worship with a heart that is focused on God and God alone! If we’re distracted by past memories or simply a season of our life, the song has lost its purpose.

If we pray prayers that role off our tongue simply out of the ease of memory without savoring the flavor of each word, the prayer has lost its purpose.

Remember that definition? Routine(adjective)performed as part of a regular procedure rather than for a special reason.

The next time you pray, recite a prayer or sing a well know song remember this. Pay attention to not only what you are focused on but more importantly WHO you are focused on. What do the words mean? How do they help you give God the best of what you have?

Are you giving God the depth of your worship and attention?

Don’t let empty rituals get in the way of an abundant and beautiful relationship with your creator.

Always remember the “why” in your words and the direction of your attention. Sing God a new song with each new day of your life.

-Pastor Patti