Revisioning Chritian Rituals

I grew up in a very legalistic spiritual background, and have spent the last several years reexploring my faith. There have been numerous changes, insights, revisionings along the way. But this one paragraph from the excellent book called The Secret Message of Jesus, by Brian McLaren, puts into one paragraph what would take me pages (and months) to explain:

After discussing a "parable" about sheep and wolves, and pointing out that there seems to be just two options (have a large fence and be exclusive, or have no fence and risk being destroyed from within), he continues on page 165:

So, returning to our parable, we need a third option. A high fence that excludes everyone won't do, nor will no fence at all. What we need is a requirement that those who wish to enter actually have a change of heart--that they don't sneak in to accomplish their own agenda, but rather that they genuinely want to learn a new way of thinking, feeling, living, and being in "the pastures of God." Perhaps that is why baptism--a ritual washing indicating repentance and desire to begin again--was so important to Jesus' predecssor, John the Baptist; to Jesus and his disciples; and to the apostles who followed them. It was important to call people to a change of heart and give them a dramatic way of going public by saying, "Yes, this change of heart has happened within me, and I'm willing to identify myself publicly as a person who is on a new path." And perhaps the Christian ritual of Eucharist was intended to function in a similar way--a kind of regular recommitment where people say, by gathering around a table and sharing in bread and wine, that they are continuing Jesus' tradition of gathering in an inclusive community. "I'm still in," they're saying. "My heart is still in this mission and dream. I'm still committed."

Wow. What a beautiful, accurate, and exciting way to describe the "boring" and "worn out" Christian "rituals" of baptism and communion.