A return to Modern?

It's good to be home. I confess that I've been keeping up with the family this week by lurking around in the blog. Today I finally feel like the jet lag is better. I could share lots of thoughts, but this is what has been on my mind today.

I think this trip shook me out of some of my postmodernity (or postmodernism or postmodernness.) I've never thought of myself as terribly postmodern, but I think I am. I have tended to be suspicious of tradition, and even more suspicious of ritual. I generally think of both terms in connection with the words meaningless or empty. "Why do something if it doesn't have purpose?," I would say to myself.

I just returned from the largest Muslim nation in the world. Five times a day the prayers can be heard all over the city over a loudspeaker. At least 3 times a day our village stopped everything to go to the mosque and pray. In that village all of life is religious. As misdirected as their faith is, it is very, very strong.

Then I came back home. America is different. We're not caught up in all those rituals. We just believe God in our hearts. Nothing meaningless about it. In fact, it's so meaningful that it rarely if ever gets expressed tangibly. It seems that we've become so afraid of meaningless tradition that we have turned away from any tradition at all.

Or have we? Perhaps our rituals are just directed to a different god. Maybe our remote controls, our modems and our menus have earned our devotion, leaving too little time for daily prayers. Perhaps as we find ourselves free to worship God everywhere and at all times we find that we are never worshipping Him anywhere.

I'm still processing this question, but I feel fairly sure that it's time to get a little more ritual back into my life. I'm working on my mornings, but I think there is more, especially for my family. What do we need to do every day to remind ourselves that we are followers of Jesus? What is our current daily routine teaching my children about who they are?

Maybe I'll write more on this later. I'd love to hear what you guys think. I do want to say that I am more thankful than ever for Mom and Dad making us go to church on Wednesday nights instead of playing baseball. And of course Bible class in all those po-dunk (sp?) towns on vacations. Though seemingly meaningless at the time, they communicated volumes to me about who I was.

I love you guys.
Randy