Rules of the Game

In the weekly Bible study there is often reference made to the 10 commandments and subsequently the 613 additional guidance corollaries of Jewish tradition. This is made in contrast to the New Covenant brought by Rabbi Jeshua (Jesus the Christ) in which the overruling rule is governed by one's heart in living relationship with God the Creator. For Muslims, too, there are numerous patterns for behavior that are prescribed: how to dress, speak, eat, pray and structure the annual cycle of worship. And while comparatively the Christian way is less formalized, certainly there are rituals and worship patterns that are fairly rigid. During the preliminary parts of the past Sunday's worship service, I sensed a fleeting feeling of decorum and expectation among worshipers about what the components and performative standards for conducting the order of service should be. In other words, even among mainline Protestants (Congregational church), there is a certain fixation with external behaviors among the spiritually new as well as mature. Granted all things of the world must take specific physical form and definite chronological sequence, but to be true to the Christian path, one should instead dwell on the presence of the Holy Spirit (that of God within oneself and others; the light within) and not the potentially distracting details of (unspoken) dress code, amount of money contributed, location of pew customarily taken on Sunday, fanciness of potluck dish given, etc.

    What then are the differences in rule-based structures of individual and corporate worship between Jewish (long established and practiced), Muslim (micro-managed training wheels to support a person's spiritual path), and Christian (rubber meets the road in each pilgrim's heart; not so much confined or integral with external descriptors of ethnicity, family name and home ground, worship space, recitation, physical pages of Scriptures, etc). In all cases the adherents view the rules and precedents and customary habits as building blocks to one's personal standing and relationship with The Creator. But seen from the outside, rather than from practitioners and functionaries, there is a spectrum that reaches from more to fewer rules and prescribed physical elements. Who is to say how much structure a given person requires before completely trusting in God's Will and having certainty in their Faith at each point in their spiritual growth? It seems to be human nature to hold onto tangible or visible markers to signal to self and to others who they are, or what the aspire to. Thus the externalities (organized religion and its spaces, words, and routines) do have an important role, but for the most mature adherents there seems to be less need or will to grip such things tightly. Instead they hold such things lightly and place their energies on knowing God more directly and in an uncluttered way.

    So that palpable feeling of performative anxiety, spectators' critical eye, and awareness of decorum is not bad of itself. It is OK to sense such things, but then to know that one's expression of worship and loving of God is not the same thing as dressing in church clothes and meeting the expectations of one's perceived betters. Instead, one should strive to streamline the paths leading to God's love and be free from distraction, confusing or overwhelming details.