“The Scent of Service”

Scripture: Exodus 30:17-38

The church has always had a strong connection to ritual, even though ritual, in and of itself, has little to do with true faith. Ritual, at its best, is a way for each of us to express our faith and to be reminded of how we must live within our faith. In my studies for my upcoming class on the “Reformation”, the “persecuted” church survived through many trials, simply by meeting together privately, during severe tests of faith, but without a lot of public fanfare. They did this as a means to continue to celebrate their connection with each other and with God even though others were trying their worst to break that connection. Sometimes it was the Protestants who had to go underground, and sometimes it was Catholicism that had to drop out of sight – it all depended on who was wearing the crown or carrying the scepter at that particular time.
Through the centuries, Protestants, in particular, have tried to move away from the extreme focus and dependency on ritual that the early church seemed to immerse themselves in. But it has a purpose, none the less.

One of my books, “The Story of Christianity”, Vol. 2 by Justo Gonzalez, addressed the survival of the Russian Orthodox Church during the 80 year period of Russian Communism. Gonzalez writes “Western Christians – particularly Protestants – may have underestimated the power of liturgy and tradition, that allowed these churches to continue their life, and even to flourish, in the most adverse of circumstances.” By varying estimates, as many as 1,000,000 Orthodox Christians may have been worshiping and growing within the oppression of Communist Russia. Gonzalez mentions that after Gorbachev instituted the policy of “perestroika” in the late 1980’s, the Russian church began to reemerge. In 1989 alone, 1,000 new churches were established, 2 seminaries were opened, and several Orthodox monasteries were reopened. And it was by the remembrances of Christ’s suffering that came in worship and ritual, that kept the church strong during those very dark days.

The ancient Israelites were given a lot of ritual for their lives. Passover and the other feast days are probably the most recognizable to us, but complete preparation for celebration of the Lord was just as necessary and important to the people. Whenever the people stopped for a time during their wilderness journey, and as soon as the Tent of Meeting was set up, ritual began. Incense was burned, anointing oils were prepared, and ritual washing would become a way of life for the priesthood.

Read Exodus 30:17-21

Washing was a ritual that implied spiritual, as well as physical cleansing. It wasn’t that water had any great spiritual power in itself, but it reminded the priests that they needed to be rid of their sinfulness before they could come to the Lord in worship and service. They were to wash their hands when they entered the Tent, and hands and feet again when they approached the altar. They knew that the Almighty hated “filth”, and they didn’t want to take any chance that “dirt” of any kind remained on or in them – not the physical kind and definitely not the spiritual kind.

But we know that spiritual cleansing is a lot more difficult than its physical counterpart, and that the degree of need for each is also in the same proportion. But the recognition of “need” hasn’t changed in 3,000 years! Israel knew that they were unworthy and unprepared to approach the throne of grace, but ritualistic washing was the only way they knew of to prepare themselves. And personally, if it gave them a sense of divine fear and heavenly humility, then maybe it wasn’t all that bad!
The Catholic Church, in my view, seems to have their own ways of instilling this concept of holy fear and heavenly humility in the people. The process of confession, the celebration of Mass on a weekly and even daily basis, even their choice of a crucifix instead of a bare cross, all serve to remind the people that sin is an ever present issue in their lives, and that they have to deal with it. Protestants have few of these reminders.

Now don’t take me wrong - I’m in no way advocating for a return to the Roman church’s style of ritual and traditions. Rituals can have the tendency to replace heart felt repentance with works of repentance, and that, to my way of thinking, is a failure in faith. But we need those reminders from time to time just the same. We need the Lenten season!
We need Ash Wednesday to remind us of our sinful state and the need to repent of our failures in this life.
We need Maundy Thursday to remind us that God loves us so much that the Almighty, the Creator of all that is, the One who has established plans not only for his own glory but for our salvation, the Glory who knows that we are unworthy but who has taken his own steps to overcome that condition, the Divine God who came to make us one with him, not through proclamations of dread and destruction but by becoming a servant who willingly washes us clean.
We need Good Friday to remind us of the lengths that God will go to, and the unbelievable means that he will use, to reunite our humanity with his eternity.
We need communion to remind us of God’s sacrifice on our part.
We need healing services as a form of surrender to the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior.

We need organized worship and prayers to celebrate the Lord’s presence in our lives, while at the same time taking care that we don’t get too wrapped up in the words and process, and completely forget all about the purpose and intent.

We need rituals to sustain us and remind us, but we also need to embrace a holy commitment if we are truly saying “Yes” to Christ.

Read Exodus 30:22-29

Anointing is another ritual that we sometimes overlook. Anointing is a means of dedication and consecration for a Godly purpose. For Israel, anointing the Tent of Meeting and all of its appurtenances was not for purposes of purification, but for dedication. And think about the spices that were used – myrrh, cinnamon, fragrant cane, cassia, olive oil. Is it any wonder that the writer of the text called this “a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer”? And in case you are wondering, the total weight of these ingredients would be 37 ½ pounds, plus a gallon of olive oil! That’s a lot of anointing!
And we anoint, too, but seldom with such a grand mixture of scents. In our healing services, I anoint with a fragrant oil or salve. When we send people out into mission fields or ministry, we anoint them and consecrate them for their endeavors in the name of Jesus Christ. 2 years ago, Diane and I attended a seminar at Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan in Rochester. At the luncheon session, the speaker asked how many pastors held healing services, and how many of those used aromatic oils. His contention was that our sense of smell is very powerful, and can bring a visual reminder to our minds and souls. His wanted us to know that we truly need these reminders.

Read Exodus 30:30-38

The anointing, consecrating, and washing is to be a unique event – not only in the ritual, but in the senses that perceive it. They are not to be offered in a routine manner, and they aren’t to be used in worldly ways. These “rituals” are all intended to be a reminder, through all our senses, that we are God’s people, called out to serve him in unique and holy ways in this life.

Now you may be wondering why I chose this passage and this topic for a message during Lent? The truth is that I was originally planning to simply address our need to prepare for our Christian service, but I kept coming back to the issue of remembering our relationship with God, and being reminded over and over of just how glorious that relationship is. Whether we are attending Sunday worship or journeying out into the mission field, we can never see it as a routine thing. It can’t be perceived as an obligation; it can’t be approached as a burden; it can’t be viewed as the way to salvation. Our time of worship and service, and the ways we worship and serve, and the means of our worship and serving
must all come together in the fullness of our love for God, and our joy in celebrating him in this life.

The sensual aspects of our life in Christ – the use of water in baptism and cleansing, the use of fragrances in anointing and consecrating his people for mission or ministry, the inclusion of candles and a cross in our sanctuary, the ritual and the order with its music and prayers and witnessing – all serve, through touch and scent and vision and sound, to remind us of just how much God wants the most intimate of relationships with each of us. Not that we are worthy, not that we are deserving, not that we could ever earn it, but simply because the Lord wants it. Nothing more, nothing less.