So-called Empty Rituals

In the Episcopal Church we have a bunch of rituals, such as standing, sitting, bowing, crossing, eating little white wafers, and everyone drinking from the same fancy metal cup. But every group of people who gathers together on a regular basis develops rituals: Handshakes and high fives. Nicknames and catch phrases. Ways of entering and exiting and walking and sitting. All the way up to songs and chants, flames and incense, pictures and clothing, symbols and fancy hats, statues and architectural styles. Humans are ritual beings and we can’t stop creating rituals even if we tried (and we’ve tried, oh boy we’ve tried). 

Now, one of the ways that certain groups of people like to do to bash other groups of people is to say they practice “empty rituals” that are rote and meaningless. You may even hear people who are leaving a religion (often for another religion with different rituals) say that the rituals they are leaving behind were "empty". But when people complain about the “empty rituals” of religion, I think this reveals shallowness in the observer or the participant, not the ritual itself. Unless a ritual was made just to mock a group of people, no ritual is empty. All authentic rituals were developed to connect with some deeper meaning or value or reality. 

Now, someone may disagree with the meaning or value or reality that the ritual connects to. They may think it is harmful or idolatrous or wicked. In which case it should make them angry or fearful. But it isn’t empty. Or someone may think the meaning or value or reality that the ritual connects to is illusory or mistaken. In which case they may want to try to correct those who practice it, or steer others away from it. But it isn’t empty. Or they may even think it connects with a meaning or value or reality they think is authentic. But it tries to connect in a way they don’t quite get. In which case they shouldn’t label it as empty, but learn more about why people do it, or try to practice it better. 

But the perception that a ritual is "empty" comes from one of two places: It could come from an insincere practitioner of the religion who thinks “I do not understand this, therefore it has to be silly or empty”. Or it could come from an outside observer who thinks “I do not understand this, therefore it has to be silly or empty”. Therefore the phrase “that is an empty ritual” says much more about the person who says it than it does about the ritual itself. 

So, let's be more sincere and thoughtful about the rituals we practice, and the rituals practiced by others. Let's be aware of how strange our own customs and rituals and ideas may seem to others, and be ready to explain to the extent we can. Let's be curious about rituals we do not understand, whether they are from "our people" or "others", and be ready to ask: Why is it done that way? And if we do disagree with a ritual or the underlying meaning of it, let us do so with charity and kindness, and perhaps gentle humor (maybe involving Holy Hand Grenades, or School Chapel Services, or Funny Sermons, or even the experience of Sitting In The Pews).