“When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” Exodus 12:25-27

Rituals are occasions for remembering and reaffirming, or with a good dose of humor and humility, of realizing that we have forgotten something that we would like to recall.

Several weeks ago I saw that one of our major retailers was putting out school backpacks. A sign of things soon to come. “What do you mean by this observance?” It seems far too early for summer vacation to be over for our young people. Two years of pandemic weirdness should merit them another month or two off in compensation. Working moms and dads may not find that helpful.

Most of us are far removed from those days of backto-school, but we likely remember some of the rituals we had. Rituals in preparation and rituals of the first day and weeks to begin the new year. Like shopping for school clothes and wrapping textbooks in brown paper bags. Like finding our bus stop and classroom, wearing name tags, and seeing friends we had not seen much in the summer. Like lamenting that our best friends are together in a different class. And then all the learning or being reminded of norms and what we should have learned the year before. There was the standard warmup exercise: “Please take out a sheet of paper and write an essay on ‘What I did on my summer vacation.’”

All of this is to say that we are familiar with the rituals of regathering and restarting, with checking where we are before moving forward, of rituals of remembering and reaffirming the basics. That these are tradition signifies that they are helpful, that they work.

This year as I see those backpacks, I wonder about our beloved faith community and how we are doing spiritually. I wonder about what traditions, what ritual observances, are necessary and helpful to us and to you. Is there something that we are doing that helps you? Is there something you miss that you would find helpful if we brought that back? And about the good news of the Gospel, I wonder about what remembering and reaffirming would be helpful. Can you tell the story of the Gospel in less than five minutes? Can you explain the hope in Christ that you have?

I wonder about what questions of faith are on our hearts and what reassurances are needed. What are your big faith questions? Where do you find your faith, your hope, your dreams most challenged and in need of spiritual support?

I welcome hearing from you. You need not “take out a sheet of paper” but drop me a note by email rectorgsec@brmemc.net or call me 828-389-3397 at church if there is something on your heart that you want to share.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+