Why Ceremony?

Why does God want ceremony and not just sincerity? Doesn't the Lord just want us to be "authentic" in our worship and to avoid rites that fall into rote, empty worship? Isn't liturgical worship just a form of phariseeism? And shouldn't the funds that go into beautiful church buildings and vestments go to the poor and other pressing needs of ministry instead? In this episode, Fr. Brian Oldfied and Fr. Bart Gingerich offer a response to these objections to ceremony. Both reason and Scripture have a lot to say on this issue. As this episode hopefully makes clear, the Church's worship customs, traditions, and expectations did not spring from nothing.