faith and family | september 2019
Vicki Rutledge
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1
In Chapter two of Liturgy of the Ordinary, Tish Harrison Warren writes “Whoever we are, whatever we believe, wherever we live, whatever our consumer preferences may be, we spend our days doing things - we live in routines formed by habits and practices.” Our routines are everyday and ordinary. As I ponder her words, I cannot help but question my daily liturgies. Are they strengthening my relationship with Jesus? Are they equipping me to appreciate beauty and wonder? Are they encouraging me to freely give and receive love? Are they allowing me to be 100% present with my children? Hmmm...
In the second chapter of our book, entitled Making the Bed, Warren shares how completing this simple, ordinary task each morning gave small order to the chaos around her. Similarly, in the creation story, we see God enter chaos and make order and beauty in the world. During those bed-making moments, she writes that she would invite God into her day and sit expectantly. Warren added that this small ritual “teaches me to slow down, to bravely enter a dull Tuesday morning, to embrace daily life, believing that in these small moments God meets us and brings meaning to our average day.” I believe these tiny bits of our day are the site of our worship. That our repetitions a reflection of our faith and a place where transformation occurs.
Warren writes, “In a culture that craves the big, the entertaining, the dramatic, and the shocking (sometimes literally), cultivating a life with space for silence and repetition is necessary for sustaining a life of faith.” Similarly to making the bed, Warren writes, “much of Christian life is returning over and over to the same work and the same habits of worship. We must contend with the same spiritual struggles again and again. The work of repentance and faith is daily and repetitive. Again and again, we repent and believe.”
Throughout the Bible, we see examples of God working through ordinary moments and ordinary people (just like me + you), specifically in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a slave, yet because of his great faith, God ordained him to be part of a historic event rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Through this teaching, we learn that it does not matter who we are, our position in life, or our means, but that God uses ordinary people and ordinary moments to grow his kingdom.
I pray throughout the coming weeks and months, each of you would have “bed-making moments” with the Lord, embracing the quiet and the ordinary. Again and again, we repent and believe!!!
Addy Kirven, Advisory Board Chairman