In his foreword to her book Liturgy of the Ordinary, Andy Crouch, author of The Tech-Wise Family, praises author Tish Harrison Warren for “slowing down and paying the best kind of attention” (9). What precious and rare commodities to notice and praise in a fellow human being! What remarkable qualities to embrace in this fast-paced world of ours!

At times, this book had me using a dictionary to look up particular words, particularly religious words, and it had me underlining until my pen ran out of ink. Some of the words I looked up brought back remembrances of my classes in high school about church history and Christian theology, and I remember one word that related to a conversation that resonated with the heart and soul of her thesis. I remember being introduced to the concept of heresy and what the implications and consequences could be to to believe something that was contrary to orthodox doctrine. I’ve read accounts of Copernicus and Galileo and their persistent and unpopular belief in the sun being the center of the universe - a belief in a geocentric universe back in in the 1500s and 1600s was considered heresy - and how these bold claims ostracized them from their society.

And as I read this foreword, I was startled to remember that Mr. Huizenga, one of my high school Bible teachers, who probably also discussed the word heresy, had planted within his 16 and 17 year old students the seed of the much-misunderstood concept of the secular and the sacred things in our lives. I find myself transported back to being with a group of friends, standing by our lockers in the hallway at morning break and discussing this idea with my friend Beth. I can still hear this preacher’s kid being incredulous that it’s possible to do something as mundane as brushing your teeth in a way that honors God. Yet Warren claims that separating those two realms of sacred and secular is considered a “stubborn Christian heresy” (9). In reality, they are one and the same; there is not a dividing line.

This book opens the door to breaking that separation that still lingers even today, and effectively and inextricably bonding these ideas together of how we live our lives and what we do with our time (as well as how we do it) determines if we are honoring God with our choices. Are we becoming a better version of ourselves in our habits and routines and rhythms? It’s as if the clouds have cleared and the concept suddenly shines brightly in its truth. Each choice in our lives brings us closer to or further from the eternal person that God intended us to be, in all our uniqueness and individuality as well as in our human-streaked traits.

“Our bodies, our pleasures, our fears, our fatigue, our friendships, our fights – these are in fact the stuff of our formation and transformation into the frail but infinitely dignified creatures we were meant to be and shall become” (11). Come find out more!

When two people read the same book, each one of them will come away with different take-aways. They will highlight different things and spend longer thinking about different parts. This series of blog posts will not replace reading the book Liturgy of the Ordinary, in fact, hopefully it will inspire you to read it yourself! What you will find in these posts are my personal take-aways and what made me reflect.

Liturgy of the Ordinary: Introduction