It is right for a religion to echo its primitive origins

Taking Holy Communion the other day, I reflected how grossly physical religious observance is, even though the progress of humanity tends to turn its more primitive aspects into symbolism. Occasionally I participate in a Jewish Sabbath meal, and find it a calm and decorous occasion, religious ritual at its most civilised. But it is important to remember that such a practice had its distant origin in services at the great Temple in Jerusalem. They ended with a ritual drinking of wine, scripture readings, and the singing of hymns and psalms. But the physical and earthy aspects were tremendous. The Temple, built by Solomon on a princely scale but enormously enlarged by Herod the Great, was a theatre of conspicuous consumption in Yahweh’s honour. For instance, its regular incensing used up annually 600lbs of the most costly material available, made from a secret recipe by the priestly Avtina family, whose womenfolk were forbidden to use scent to avoid accusations of corruption.