Quakers don't participate in Sacraments. We rejected them as forms made empty by ritual. I certainly understand that. The "How are you? I am fine" ritual is meaningless and insincere in our society regularly pushing people to hide and given insincere answers. Even the regular parting of "I love you" can be come so routine with someone we truly love that it is no longer connected to our heart when we say it.
So boo for empty rituals, but it seems we threw out all rituals. Well actually we also have unconscious rituals - old practices like calling it First Day that most modern Friends no longer no the reason we do this. (the days of the month and of the week often had secular reference - August was named after Caesar Augustus. This was an attempt by Friends to forsake the secular and let all days belong to God.) Even the sitting in silence and the idea that one speaks only once...these are our rituals whether we recognize them as such or not.
But what about the creation of rituals that are not repetitive and are sacred? Mystics have often used symbols and intention to create deep and meaningful ceremonies or sacraments. I lament that our ritual of sitting and in silence leaves little space for spontaneous ritual. I once saw a woman rise and dance in the middle of the room and was struck by her bravery because I could feel some Friends shock as she did.
When I was about 23 I sat in a circle at a Young Friends of North America Gathering. We were doing worship sharing. Someone started by referencing the story of Adam and Eve. They had an apple in their hand and they took a bite out as they said the query of the evening: "What for you is knowledge that would disrupt innocents? What is temptation that would take you away from God?" Each person took a bite as they answered the query and passed the apple on. The answers were deep and the act of the apple going the circle became a sort of sacrament - a breaking of the bread.
I am told that in recent years at FGC, the Young Adult Friends group celebrates a "feast of love" where they feed each other. This to me is a meaningful ritual that brings us into deep spiritual fellowship with each other.
How can friends make spontaneous and symbolic acts that help us go deeply and touch the sacred between us?
