S’Mores are so over the top sweet that no one in my family can eat more than a bite before we get too yucked out to eat any more. Despite that, when we mention a campfire to our kids, they can’t think of anything else! They start dancing around and singing in a celebration that will continue right up to that first bite.
You see, it’s not really about the toasted marshmallows or the melted chocolate or the graham crackers or even the fire, it’s about the ritual. As homo adorans (i.e. worshipping man), we have an instinctive hunger for ritual. One of the things I love about Orthodox Christianity is that it satisfies that hunger. How have the Jews managed to preserve their identity – even without their faith (how many secular Jews do you know?)? How do the Mormons reinforce such a strong identity? The Freemasons teach ordinary men philosophy and theology? Ritual.
But ritual has been sucked out of our culture. Yes, you can replace good ones with watching football with friends and the like, but our instinct for ritual was not just meant to draw us into horizontal bonds of fellowship, but in a vertical bond with the uncreated God. Good ritual is a Mystery that draws us into Him.
Gathering around a campfire to enjoy a treat that has been toasted in its flames draws the members of my family closer together. This is beautiful, but a mere shadow of the Eucharistic banquet that is the prototype of every meal. 
