So-Called "Dead Formalism"

I re-read an old blog post this morning in which the term “dead formalism” was used. The writer was contemplating one of the feast days (the formalization of a certain day in the year to encourage contemplation of a particularly significant historic or person) of the Catholic Church. The particular feast day on which he was commenting was the Feast of the Transfiguration. What he noted was the difference between his perception of such formalizations prior to his conversion to the Catholic Church and how this formality now gave him opportunity and drew him in to contemplative thought of what this feast day commemorated – the Transfiguration of Christ. (The blog is Heart for God.) It got me to thinking, again, about formalities.

“Dead formality” seems to belong exclusively to the realm of religion at least in the mind of many protestants but even more so among most evangelicals . But isn't that rather hypocritical? Aren't there are lots of occasions and situations in which formality is not only preferred but appropriate and perhaps even required. Why is religion singled out as the realm of “anti-formalities”?

The military is one area in which formality is absolutely essential. Formality is not simply preferred in settings conferring military personnel to particular ranks but even required when it comes to a large part of their initial training. Some people (and by “some” I mean “many” if not “most”) prefer at least a certain degree of formality when it comes to high school proms and various kinds of ceremonies such as graduations. Weddings are typically very formal as are funerals. Induction into particular political offices are highly formal. Are any of these assumed to be “dead formalities”? Even in the area of religion, the installation of a church official to a particular office is quite formal – that is, it's done in a certain way (although that way may differ from religious group to religious group) to draw attention to the importance of the event. In the U.S., we have particular days that we have formalized as a way of drawing attention to a person or an event or even an idea. We have “Memorial Day” and “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day” and “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” and lots of other formalized days and weeks and months. Are these observances “dead” due solely to their formalization?

The examples I’ve cited are not “dead formalities” unless we deem them to be so. They are intended to draw attention to and encourage contemplative thought bringing, hopefully, some kind of positive response not only individually but even, at times, socially. The same is true in the area of religion. Formality is not inherently “dead.” A formality becomes “dead” if we make allowance for that, if we make a conscious choose to identify it as “dead.”

Jesus Christ brings life. Consequently, because of Christ, even that which is dead holds the potential for something that is full of life and even give life. But it's a choice, not an inevitability. How often are evangelicals enjoined to read the scriptures and pray and worship (among other things) even and, perhaps, particularly when they don't want to do so. Does that mean that these three things are “dead formalities.” Again, if, in the mind of the practitioner (or critic) such practices are a waste of time then, yes, probably, they are. But for the one who doesn't want them to be “dead” then they aren't even when they don't offer the preferred “feelings.” Christians should know better, that “feelings” simply don't tell the whole story. Just because something “feels” dead doesn't mean it is dead or that it must necessarily remain dead. Is there not something about this to be learned from the believers conversion from death to life in Christ let alone Christ's own death and resurrection?

The truth is we need formalities in our lives for precisely the reason the author (of the blog post I mentioned at the beginning of this article) discovered. As human beings, we are incredibly absent minded and can be outrageously myopic in our approach to life in general. Without certain formalities to remind of us and encourage us to refocus on important things (events, people, etc.) we are inclined to lose our selves in ourselves. And if we persist in such a state, we ontologically implode. Selfishness is the antithesis to all we deem morally good.

It is right to eschew the “dead” of dead formalism. But we dare not forget, no less lose the life given to us by God formally through Christ and his Church.