In reply to John J. Flanagan.

John, I think you are missing the point. There are no "relationships" without ritual.

Take for example my relationship with my wife. I get up, I make her coffee, I kiss her goodbye on my way to work, I hug her when I return home, we gather round the table and eat dinner with the kids, we go to bed. This IS the substance of my "undistracted personal relationship" with her. These small daily rituals that I engage whether I feel like doing them or not are what foster and grow intimacy, affection, trust.

Just so with God. As Jesus himself showed us by "regularly" seeking out time and places to be alone with God and by keeping the feasts.

The tried and true rituals that Christians have used throughout history (the liturgy, the church year, the spiritual disciplines) are certainly not "required," (just like kissing my wife and telling her I love her in the morning is not required required) but time has proven them to be salutary.