DEEPENING FAITH THROUGH RITUAL

Ritual is an important way to celebrate or mark the passage of the liturgical year, the passage of the calendar year, and the passages of age and life. Finding ways to symbolically acknowledge changes can set the stage for the Holy Spirit to draw those involved into understanding those changes at a deeper level. Everyday materials or common elements can take on greater meaning that may even trigger a sense of the Divine presence whenever those elements are used at a later time in ordinary life.

Communion is the most obvious example. When I do communion with youth, I tell them to remember Christ’s love whenever they eat bread, even in a sandwich, or drink juice, any kind of juice. I once had the mother of a small child tell me that at lunch one day after a communion service, she turned to see her daughter dipping a piece of peanut butter and jelly sandwich into her apple juice. The mother asked what the daughter was doing. The little girl looked at her mother and said, “I’m just remembering that Jesus loves me.” One year at a youth camping trip I sent two kids off to the little campground store to get communion elements. I told them to think about what we’d been eating all weekend. They returned with a carton of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and a bottle of water. It was perfect. In the service I spoke of how Jesus had taken common elements off the table and made them holy. We did the same with ice cream and water.

I have a friend, Rev. Jim Burklo, who told me that whenever anyone in their youth group got their driver’s license, the group did a ritual of blessing. They placed the driver’s license in the center of the group and had each person say a prayer over it asking God to give the owner wisdom in driving and for safety for the new driver. After that ritual, the owner would be reminded of those prayers each time they looked at their license.

OTHER RITUAL IDEAS

Epiphany ritual

· Read the Epiphany story in Matthew 2:1-12.

· Invite everyone to think of a talent they have.

· Ask them to reflect on how they could use that talent to make Christ’s world a better place.

· Invite them to go around the circle and say out loud, or silently, “I bring my gift of ___________ to the Christ child.”

Pentecost ritual

· Read the Pentecost story in Acts chapter 2.

· Tell them that this story is considered the Birthday of the Church.

· Have a birthday party complete with cake, candles, ice cream, etc.

· Have each person write on an index card a gift they would like to give the larger church or their local church. It could be a donation to a program, participation in worship, childcare for an event, visiting someone in the church who is sick or elderly, or making them a card. The possibilities are endless!

· Collect the cards and have one of the more theatrical people in the group act as “the church” and “open” the gifts by reading them and reacting with gratitude.

Halloween ritual: A Celebration of the dead

· Arrange with a local cemetery to bring the group for a meeting. It’s most effective in the dark.

· Ask the participants to bring a picture or symbol of someone in their lives that has died. It could even be an ancestor they didn’t really know.

· Sit in a circle at the cemetery and give each person a chance to share a story about the dead person.

· When each person is finished have the whole group say, “Thank you God for the life of ________________(the dead person).

Start of a group ritual

This ritual can be done at the beginning of a new “youth group” year, or at the beginning of any time when a group will be together.

· Sing a gathering song.

· Read Romans 12:3-18 about individuals in community.

· Have each person light a candle and share a quality, gift, or talent they bring to this community.

· After each person shares, have the group say, “Thank you God for ______________ (name) and their gifts.

Commissioning Ritual

This ritual is for the end of the year, or the end of a retreat, or the end of camp, or for people leaving the group, i.e. graduating seniors.

· Invite everyone to make a “stole” out of a strip of plain cloth decorated with their name and the gifts and talents they have. They can do this in words or symbols. Ask them to think about a promise they can make to use their gifts to make God’s world a better place.

· Stand in a circle and invite each person to come and kneel in the middle one at a time, holding their stole. (A pillow on the ground would be helpful)

· As each person kneels, ask them, “What is your name and what is your promise?” When they respond, say, “________________ (Name) I commission you in the name of God who created you, Christ who redeems you, and the Holy Spirit who sustains you, to use your gifts. May God give you the strength to fulfill your promise.”

End ritual

This ritual can be done at the end of a year, the end of a retreat, end of camp etc.

· Start a fire (campfire, fireplace, bar-b-que, etc.)

· Have the participants reflect on the past year, retreat, camp etc. and think of one or two parts of the experience that was meaningful to them.

· Have them take turns throwing a heaping spoonful of Nestle’s Quik into the fire as they express their gratitude to God for their experience. What the Quik does in fire is cool; trust me.

Deepening Faith: Youth Ministry Resources and Some Miscellaneous Advice

Rev. Lizann Bassham, Front Porch Spirit Press