“That’s just a ritual.”

It’s a phrase I hear too often by people in churches, and far often by pastors who want to prove their own superiority over “those Christians.” I’d find it funny if it went so alarming. It’s funny because people who bash rituals will jump to their feet when they hear the National Anthem played before a ball-game without even thinking. Ironically, it’s alarming for the same reason.

Human beings create ritual, its the way we connect our ordinary actions to a larger narrative. When we deceive ourselves into thinking we don’t do rituals, as our society has done (“ritualistic” has become a synonym for “empty,” after all), we end up allowing rituals to mold our lives in ways we might not consciously want. This is a spiritually dangerous state in which to live. The fact that Starbucks seems to understand ritual better than many Churches is just plain sad.

NOTE: If you don’t understand the title for this comic, read Apocalypse & Allegiance.