SUNDAY MORNING RITUAL

Every Sunday morning, I have a tradition or ritual, if you will, when I arrive at the Church Building. This “ritual” started as things that needed to be done by the “first person who arrives” (me) and then developed into something more.

Usually, I am the one who unlocks the doors and turns on the lights. It begins when I park “Aubergine” (my faithful Buick) in my parking spot beside the alley door. I’ve already been playing a “Sunday morning soundtrack” and having a little worship in the car. I let myself in the alley door, walk up the stairs and first turn on the hallway lights. I make my way down the back hall towards Schuster Chapel, passing the historic photos of generations past. I then step into the chapel where I leave my coffee and Sunday things (Bible, sermon stuff, etc.) 

I turn on two lights in the chapel, shut the doors and then unlock the 10^th Street outside doors (the ones for the chapel & elevator). Then I walk up to the doors at the back of the sanctuary and walk to the sound booth, where I turn on the sound. I check the “McEucharist” packets in the basket in the back (to make sure we have enough) as I travel north towards the Jackson Street door.

I come to the switch plate panel for the lights in the sanctuary and turn them all on before proceeding to the Jackson Street door, where I turn on the narthex lights and unlock the doors.

I return then to the sanctuary chancel area (up front) and turn on the lights above the pulpit, lectern, piano, organ and all. I open the small door behind the piano to the area behind the chancel and turn on the lights in the reredos (the fancy, carved, wood thing above the baptistry) and behind the stained-glass window of the baptistry.

Returning through the door behind the piano, I make sure the lectern light is on and the handheld mic under the pulpit is working. Then on to the 10^th Street door in the 10^th Street narthex, lights on, doors unlocked. Finally, I walk through Sims Parlor and turn on all those lights before returning to the chapel, where I “preach my sermon to the empty pews in the chapel” – as a final “dress rehearsal”.

Now, as you can see, this is a detailed description of what I do. It’s accurate, and I was able to write it down quickly and without much thought…because the pattern of it hasn’t changed in years. What HAS changed is this “circle around the sanctuary” has become a “Circle of Prayer”.

WITH EACH UNLOCKED DOOR: “Father, throw Your arms wide open to any and all who enter – let OUR arms be Yours.”

 WITH EACH LIGHT: “Father, enlighten us and help us to see.”

WITH EACH PASS AROUND THE PEWS: “Father, protect those who sit here. Love, through us, each one who sits here. Breathe Your breath of life, Your Spirit of Truth, on each person who sits here.”

IN SIMS PARLOR: “Father, help us make this house a home.”

When I started doing what I call my “Circle of Prayer”, years ago, I engaged my mind and heart and thought about what I was saying. But just this last Sunday, I caught myself in the back of the chancel area turning on the baptistry light when I realized I had been walking, unlocking, turning on lights, and saying the prayers, without realizing it…it was in my body automatically. I might say that is a good thing (that it was so automatic) except that I was doing it without “thinking/feeling”.

That’s when the “lesson of it” hit me. This is TRADITION without REASON, TRUTH without SPIRIT, STYLE without CONTENT…RELIGION without RELATIONSHIP. 

A performing artist, whether singing, acting, dancing, or playing an instrument, practices to get the music or movement in their bodies. I know, as a pianist, that memorizing a piece of music is sometimes done through sense memory: your fingers remember where to go, and when. But my piano teachers always reminded me that my mind needed to memorize also, telling me what chord I was playing, and which chord I’d be moving to…seeing/hearing the music as I played. Why? Because in times of stress (like a performance) sense memory abandons you and you must rely on your mind. And how many times have I either seen that happen, or had it happen to me? In acting it’s called, “going up” on your line: not just forgetting the line, but being blocked from remembering even how to go on, or what comes next. 

In our Faith, this is the danger of TRADITION and RITUAL. Both are good things to help us practice the presence of God, to remind ourselves of our life together, and our life with Him…but if TRADITION has no foundation, if RITUAL has no basis in history or reason then it is useless. That’s why we need both TRADITION AND REASON, TRUTH AND SPIRIT, STYLE AND CONTENT, RELIGION AND RELATIONSHIP. 

I don’t say that TRADITION, TRUTH, STYLE, and RELIGION are bad in themselves, but they need to be paired with something that gives them substance and reason. Even TRUTH, as we are taught by the Spirit, is cold if it is not paired with LOVE, or with the ultimate “REASON” which is Jesus.

Be careful to not get into even Spiritual habits that become so ingrained that you can do them without thinking. What is your purpose? What is the reason behind the Spiritual habits that YOU do consistently (Why do you attend worship? Why do you sit in the same pew? Why do you pray WHEN you pray? Why do you SAY to God and to each other?) 

Sometimes we…I SHOULD say, “sometimes I…” need to start at the beginning and remember why this habit started in the first place.

My “Circle of Prayer” will be more thoughtful this coming Sunday as I think about what I am doing at that moment, even though I’ve been doing it each Sunday for years…and as I think about my vocation and avocation.

In fact, when I am gone, I hope that I will be remembered for doing nothing more than exposing everyone in my circle to the God who made us, who gives us life and joy and love…

…and in fact, all I ever did in my life here was to never hinder access to the Source of our Life and Love…all I did was unlock the Doors and turn on the Light.