Show me the gestures a person performs, and I'll tell you the kind of world that person has created for herself or himself. Those who tip their hats or smile at strangers have created quite a different world than those who shake their fists and honk their car horns. Judge Keller's polite gestures not only were the product of a good heart. They also produced a good heart. Every time he tipped his hat this gesture shaped his life by reminding him of who he was, to say nothing of the civility it created in return.
Gestures have that power.
The church has its own ways of tipping hats. For 2,000 years, through its rituals, the church has been creating a world. Upon entering the church, God's people have bowed at the waist or bent their knees before the altar. They've made the sign of the cross, passed the peace, lowered their heads and bowed as the processional cross passed, stood when the Gospel was read, knelt for confession and dipped their fingers in baptismal bowls or holy water fonts. The world would go on spinning if Judge Keller stopped tipping his hat or if your pastor's alb remained hanging in the closet.