“How do I find deeper happiness?” Psychology Prof Dacher Keltner replies to this question as follows: “The science points to an answer in the abstract: Find more community. Deepen your connections with others. Be with others in meaningful ways. Find rituals to organize your life. It will boost your happiness, give you greater joy, and even add ten years to your life expectancy, science suggests.”

If he’s right, am I allowed to tell people that joining us in a Sunday service each week could add 10 years to their life? :)

I’m struck by his use of the word ‘rituals’. At WMC we’ve been having conversations about our experience of Sunday worship together. I asked one group what they would do if they were given a blank sheet of paper and told to design a worship service from scratch. What would we include, or leave out? What rituals from a previous era still serve us well (we recently reintroduced the practice of blessing the offering, which went missing during the pandemic). Which practices need renewal? What new rituals need to be developed given that increasing numbers of our worshippers are joining us online?

I’d be fascinated to hear your views. Especially if they end up increasing my life expectancy ...