I was looking for ideas along the ideas of Brother Lawrence's wonderful classic "The Practice of the Presence of God". His idea is that you DO continue to go about your life - you peel potatoes, you wash dishes - and you stay in community with God at the same time. I love this idea, and I was eager to find a book that fleshed out this idea as applied to modern life. I found this book, and remarkably, it is also thoughtful, well written, funny, and steeped in good theology. (And it will make you want to become an Anglican! I am not currently Anglican, but I have a lot of love and respect for Anglicans.) The book is called "Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life" by Tish Harrison Warren.
Warren takes eleven moments out of an ordinary day - things like brushing your teeth, losing your keys, checking email - and combines them with eleven spiritual practices in Christian life. This sounds gimmicky, and in the wrong hands it certainly could be, but in this book it is SO well done. (It's worth noting that The Gospel Coalition and Sarah Bessey both agree with my enthusiastic endorsement, so this book has a broad range of support in the Christian community.) The idea is that there are reminders of God working in the world and working his redemption in us constantly, every day, in the most mundane moments, and she illuminates some of the ways we can watch for this and be blessed (or be challenged to grow) as we go about our lives.
Some highlights (these are just a few examples, as every chapter had great stuff; and these just give you an idea of the content, it's her fleshing out of the ideas that makes this book special):
- Losing your keys - this chapter was linked to confession, and the idea was that how you respond to the little irritations of life is a good barometer of where your heart is at. Often we think of confession in relation to bigger things, but there are little moments every day where we lose our cool, or act selfishly, and the opportunity here is to notice this happening, and take the opportunity to confess and receive forgiveness and acceptance.
- Calling a Friend - this chapter is linked to being in Christian community and gives a robust argument for being involved in a local church.
- Eating Leftovers - this chapter was linked to both Communion and reading the Bible. She talks about how you need to eat over and over, and while the vast majority of your meals will be very ordinary and forgettable, you absolutely need them to bring you life. And that the type of food you eat can bring more or less health over time.
- Fighting with My Husband - she links this with Passing the Peace, and writes about how the bulk of the "loving others" command in the Bible involves loving your family and closest friends well - and this is often the very hardest thing to do.
- There is lots of value given to enjoying the pleasures of life, and sleep linked to Sabbath - I loved these ideas.
Also, she concludes her Acknowledgments section with my favorite sentence that I have ever seen and probably ever will see in an Acknowledgments section: "And glory be to the Word, from whom any goodness in our little words flows, and by whom they will be redeemed."
This is a book I will return to again and again, and I hope I have convinced at least a few of you to check it out. It's that rare gem that is thoughtful and deep, but also very easy to read and applicable to real life.
