Comments on: Regulation, Ritual, and Remembrance http://ceruleansanctum.com/2006/12/regulation-ritual-and-remembrance.html Looking for the 1st century Church in 21st century America Tue, 22 May 2012 03:53:34 +0000 hourly 1 By: Peytonhttp://ceruleansanctum.com/2006/12/regulation-ritual-and-remembrance.html#comment-17900 Peyton Wed, 13 Dec 2006 15:13:01 +0000 http://ceruleansanctum.com/2006/12/regulation-ritual-and-remembrance.html#comment-17900 David, Great comments. I hope Dan will forgive me for saying that he has captured the gist of the Church Catholic (as carefully differentiated from the Roman Catholic Church, which is one part of it). We remember. Even if our memory extends only back to the day we truly met Jesus, or to the Azusa Street revival, or to the various Awakenings, or to "the year when King Uzziah died... ." (Side question: is the problem with the Emerging Church that they have no remembered history?) And yes, "<i>blind, unknowing dependence</i> on ritual will lead to disaster." I remember that Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent that Moses had made (2 Kings 18:4; compare Numbers 21:4-9). And I recall that I am no longer an Episcopalian. <blockquote>Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted, it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in which instinct has learned nothing from experience. <b>George Santayana</b>, <i>The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905</i></blockquote> David,

Great comments. I hope Dan will forgive me for saying that he has captured the gist of the Church Catholic (as carefully differentiated from the Roman Catholic Church, which is one part of it). We remember. Even if our memory extends only back to the day we truly met Jesus, or to the Azusa Street revival, or to the various Awakenings, or to “the year when King Uzziah died… .” (Side question: is the problem with the Emerging Church that they have no remembered history?) And yes, “blind, unknowing dependence on ritual will lead to disaster.” I remember that Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent that Moses had made (2 Kings 18:4; compare Numbers 21:4-9). And I recall that I am no longer an Episcopalian.

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted, it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in which instinct has learned nothing from experience.

George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

]]> By: David Rigginshttp://ceruleansanctum.com/2006/12/regulation-ritual-and-remembrance.html#comment-17894 David Riggins Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:05:27 +0000 http://ceruleansanctum.com/2006/12/regulation-ritual-and-remembrance.html#comment-17894 My Christian upbringing is devoid of ritual. Aside from going to church and the idea that "Church" is Sunday mornings and Sunday and Wednesday evenings. We never did communion or baptisms. When I go to a church that does have rituals, I am a bit at sea. "Important dates", church leaders from long past...Origen is a point of beginning, right? Oh, it's a person? Polycarp is a group of fish, and the Aryan Controversy is about Hitler, right? I think I've missed out on background and understanding: how we got to be where we are today, mostly because those who have led me to this point <em>did</em> know history, cathecism and ritual. Led by such things as precedent, they did not make things up as they went along, but led through understanding of what had already passed. Avoiding reefs and rocks already encountered, ritual and tradition can guide us through unsafe waters. But, and it's a major one, <em>blind, unknowing dependence</em> on ritual will lead to disaster. So bathe in the glorious luxury of the rituals handed down to us, and don't disparage or belittle them. But I would encourage us all to "bathe responsibly" and learn about the origins of our regulations and rituals. Read up, and teach them to our children and disciples. That is remembering. My Christian upbringing is devoid of ritual. Aside from going to church and the idea that “Church” is Sunday mornings and Sunday and Wednesday evenings. We never did communion or baptisms. When I go to a church that does have rituals, I am a bit at sea. “Important dates”, church leaders from long past…Origen is a point of beginning, right? Oh, it’s a person? Polycarp is a group of fish, and the Aryan Controversy is about Hitler, right?

I think I’ve missed out on background and understanding: how we got to be where we are today, mostly because those who have led me to this point did know history, cathecism and ritual. Led by such things as precedent, they did not make things up as they went along, but led through understanding of what had already passed. Avoiding reefs and rocks already encountered, ritual and tradition can guide us through unsafe waters.

But, and it’s a major one, blind, unknowing dependence on ritual will lead to disaster. So bathe in the glorious luxury of the rituals handed down to us, and don’t disparage or belittle them. But I would encourage us all to “bathe responsibly” and learn about the origins of our regulations and rituals. Read up, and teach them to our children and disciples. That is remembering.

]]> By: Annehttp://ceruleansanctum.com/2006/12/regulation-ritual-and-remembrance.html#comment-17843 Anne Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:56:25 +0000 http://ceruleansanctum.com/2006/12/regulation-ritual-and-remembrance.html#comment-17843 It sounds like maybe a personal situation in the congregation. Or a failure for there to be a personal situation when there should have been. I don't mean to pry, I just wish things could be healed, that's all. My friend left the RC church because nobody rallied around him after his wife miscarried their daughter. He's a universalist now ... Take care & God bless It sounds like maybe a personal situation in the congregation. Or a failure for there to be a personal situation when there should have been. I don’t mean to pry, I just wish things could be healed, that’s all. My friend left the RC church because nobody rallied around him after his wife miscarried their daughter. He’s a universalist now …

Take care & God bless

]]>