Ritual and Awe: Thursday, 3rd Week after Epiphany

The covenant that God makes with Abram in chapter 15 is the stuff of mystery, inspiration, and the direct presence of the divine; what with smoking vessels and fiery flames walking themselves between bloody animals split in half. Today in chapter 17, we still have some blood, with God commanding the circumcision of newborn males. But we also have the safety of liturgy and ritual, which softens the divine presence in a way that is patterned, and even comforting.

Episcopalians define a sacrament as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. Through the water of Baptism, we are reborn as children of the everliving God, through whom we become everliving. As we grow and change physically, we also grow and are changed spiritually, over many years. In the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we are nourished with the life of Jesus himself. And hopefully, in faith and trust, we are slowly transformed into creatures who live, not only for this world, but for the new world that will transform this one.

Our liturgical worship is structured, and mostly safe. Yet we still yearn for those moments when there is no sign that stands between us and God. We yearn for those moments when God’s presence is unmistakable. Of course, when those moments come, we can never fully communicate them to others. And those moments will both comfort, and terrify us. And so it goes. We need liturgy, and we need inspiration. We need formation, and we need transformation.

In chapter 15, Abram’s relationship with God is transformed. In chapter 17, Abram (now “Abraham”) begins the liturgy of circumcision. Through some 4,000 years, the children of Israel have been formed as children who belong to God, and prepared for those rare moments of transformation when they become God’s children.  As student-disciples of Jesus Christ, may our liturgies form us and prepare us for transformation.