I stumbled across a great illustration of why ritual and symbols are such helpful religious practices that I want to share today. The picture comes from Gertrude Mueller Nelson in her book, “To Dance With God.”

She writes, “Watch how children, frightened by the vast and powerful surf at the ocean, tame it; they scoop a small hole in the sand near where the waves break and let the water fill the hole. In essence, children respond to the vast sea by creating a mini-sea, which they can control and manage. They had created a hole, to catch something of the transcendent. In the same way we cannot head straight into the awe of the Almighty. Like the child before the ocean, we turn our backs on what is too much and slowly create the form that will contain something of the uncontainable…. The power of the Almighty needs, sometimes, to be guarded against but it also needs to be beckoned, called forth and wooed.” (p. 25)

So how do we relate to the God who is so vast, so great, so holy, so perfect - that when John (the Apostle whom Jesus loved) saw The Mystery he fell down like a dead man? How do we capture something of the greatness of God in a way that is “safe?” For years people have done so with rituals (think alters, ceremony’s, special dress, special rooms, special furniture, special postures, etc.) and symbols (crosses, icons, statues, medals, etc) - do you have any ways (rituals, practices, symbols) that help you confront the ocean of God as you sit upon the beach?