Not because it has no meaning, not because it has nothing to say to the culture, but because it refuses to submit to spirit of the age. It refuses to soften the scandal of the gospel, which is the scandal of grace. It refuses to sell the Church's birthright for a mess of pottage, or to forsake the songs of Zion which shape and form God's people. Of course, we must be careful. There is a difference between ritual and ritualism.
Ritualism is the dead faith of the living.
Ritual is the living faith of the dead. The danger that faces you and me these days is not that we will fall into lifeless ritualism, but rather that the Church will become cut off from the Source. The Ten Commandments, contained in today's Old Testament Lesson, provide a good example. There are those who like to see that distillation of the Law of Moses posted on the walls of every classroom and courtroom in the nation. That would be ritualism.