Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Explaining Rituals

Image by Terren in Virginia via Flickr, CC BY 2.0

While I was raking up fallen leaves in the yard recently, a passerby stopped to talk.

This lady was from India, and was curious about why Canadians raked up leaves each fall. Was it some cultural tradition of ours, she asked, a ritual that we enjoyed doing?

I smiled at her mistaken assumption, but explained that if we didn’t rake up the leaves, the lawn underneath would die. With a blanket of leaves blocking the sun and air, the grass would be smothered.

We’re certainly not raking up dozens of bags of leaves because it’s fun!

Our conversation got me thinking about rituals, and how we sometimes need to explain them to puzzled outsiders.

Why do kids dress up in outlandish costumes on Halloween and go door to door asking for candy?

Why do we decorate a tree in our homes at Christmas?

And why do Christians have bread and wine at Communion? Is it because they get hungry and need a snack partway through a church service?

Like Lucy in the old sitcom, we have some explaining to do…

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell · 2 Comments

Marinate Yourself in God’s Word

Image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay

When you marinate food before cooking it, more is going on than meets the eye (or the taste buds).

You’re doing more than simply soaking the food in a seasoned liquid to add extra flavour to it.

You’re actually changing its structure and making it yield.

Marinating tenderizes meat, breaking down tough connective tissues to make it more palatable. It also helps meat retain moisture, ensuring that the cooked meat will be juicy and not dry.

Marinades usually have a sharp, acidic ingredient, like wine, vinegar or lemon juice, or an enzymatic one, like yogurt of papaya. Herbs, spices and oils are added as well.

Whether you use a red-wine-based marinade for beef dishes, or a tangy yogurt-lemon one for chicken, your meat is guaranteed to turn out tender and better-tasting.

Likewise, when we meditate on God’s Word, or “marinate” in it, we’re doing more than simply adding Biblical quotations to our knowledge base.

As we absorb and internalize Scripture, it changes us and leaves us better off than before.

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