Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

by Tish Harrison Warren

We must be shaped into people who value that which gives life,

Both liturgy and what is euphemistically termed “domestic” work also have an intense relation with the present moment, a kind of faith in the present that fosters hope and makes life seem possible in the day-to-day.

“Everyone wants a revolution. No one wants to do the dishes.”

The kind of spiritual life and disciplines needed to sustain the Christian life are quiet, repetitive, and ordinary.

Because of Christ’s embodiment, the ways we care for our bodies are not meaningless necessities that keep us well enough to do the real work of worship and discipleship. Instead, these small tasks of caring for our bodies, as quotidian as they are, act as an embodied confession that our Creator, who mysteriously became flesh, has made our bodies well and deserves worship in and through our very cells, muscles, tissues, and teeth.

honor our bodies as sacred parts of worship.

learn the habit of beholding our bodies as a gift,

So I will fight against my body’s fallenness. I will care for it as best I can, knowing that my body is sacred and that caring for it (and for the other bodies around me) is a holy act.

I had a theology of suffering that allowed me to pay attention in crisis, to seek small flickers of mercy in profound darkness. But my theology was too big to touch a typical day in my life. I’d developed the habit of ignoring God in the midst of the daily grind.

as a culture we struggle with what it means to be not simply fed, but profoundly and holistically nourished.

We’ve inherited a faith that, while beautiful in many ways, was formed and shaped by the concept of a market-driven religious experience.

my leftovers are not theologically neutral.

“We have a global theology without morality, without a Bible. It only offers a transaction manual for wealth creation and the efficient allocation of capital.”

Christian worship, centered on Word and sacrament, reminds me that my core identity is not that of a consumer: I am a worshiper and an image-bearer, created to know, enjoy, and glorify God and to know and love those around me.

I can get caught up in big ideas of justice and truth and neglect the small opportunities around me to extend kindness, forgiveness, and grace.

proclaiming a radical love for the world even as I neglect to care for those closest to me.

thousands of nameless saints who made tiny, daily choices that mattered profoundly, even though they were unsung, unnoticed, and ordinary.

the problem of poverty is not simply a lack of money. It’s a lack of community, a lack of deep ties—family, friends, people you can count on, people to catch you when you fall.

“Earth is Forgiveness School. You might as well start at the dinner table. That way, you can do this work in comfortable pants.”7

“beauty will save the world.”