When couples plan their marriages with clergy, we learn much about their values. We also glimpse the larger picture of changing views toward ritual. Others want to revise, even reject, religious ritual. The couples have a range of motives, from deeply religious to profoundly secular. Some want to use highly personal, even secret, symbols in the ceremony.
Rituals are our most primitive language.
They sustain communities with an economy of words. From baptism to funerals, from weddings to the Eucharist, rituals define us and remind us who we are. I have seen faith come alive when people use rituals to create events of personal and social significance. And lively congregations use their rituals to shape their identity in faith, whether through the formalities of worship and preaching or in the informal contacts of coffee hour and business meetings. I've observed three often neglected dimensions of the ritual experience.