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A review by danielle_w
Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren
4.0
This book is found on a spectrum between "Cold Tangerines" by Shauna Niequest and "Made for More" by Hannah Anderson, with an Anglican slant. This is a four-and-a-half star book. It was refreshing for the soul, sort of scratched a spiritual itch with me. I think the fact that the writer is a Anglican female priest would push away a lot of people in my denomination, but I actually really enjoyed the Anglican history that Warren introduced me to throughout her book. I started reading the book a little disillusioned for personal reasons, which led me to first approach the book wanting Warren to check the privilege of Western Christians- i.e., I'm a little sick of books by stay-at-home moms who wax on about how hard and busy life is and why being consumed with your children makes you holy.
To my refreshing surprise, she pushes back on this quite early on, talking about how we need to be friends with different people in the church to help us remember our mission in life. In her chapter, "Passing the Peace and the Everyday Work of Shalom" she talks about her single friend Steven who works with marginalized people. She says, "[Steven] won't let us settle into our world of kids and mortgages and family joys and squabbles, and forget that our family is part of a larger movement- the kingdom coming. And honestly, having our comfort challenged by our friend can be a pain in the neck. I can feel guilty and bothered. But I need my friend and I need to be reminded of the marginalized. And he needs us: young parents who are ordinary and worn out."
LOVED her chapter on liturgical time. I was pleasantly surprised at how strong and sound her ecclesiology was in her chapter "Congregation and Community". The latter half of the book was incredibly insightful and thought-provoking, and I, as a disabled person, really appreciated her distinction and understanding between waiting and resting (she has a chapter on each). This book isn't a heavy theological or academic book- and it may be criticized as being fluffy- but it is a great fly-over of daily life and how our daily rituals can and does reflect aspects of our souls and God's posture towards us. She is well-read without being lofty- in that her quotes are awesome. Seriously, I told my husband that I wanted to re-read this immediately to mark out quotes of hers and others that she quotes.
Among some pretty heavy and sad reads, "Liturgy of the Ordinary" was light and refreshing to my soul as it set out- in plain and simple English- how every moment of everyday life can be reclaimed for the glory of God and the good of our souls.
*last note that was totally not her fault but her editor's- I did not like the blurbs in the middle of each page that bolded quotes- you know, the kind that you would find as "tweet this" in a blog article. A book is literally the opposite of a tweet.
To my refreshing surprise, she pushes back on this quite early on, talking about how we need to be friends with different people in the church to help us remember our mission in life. In her chapter, "Passing the Peace and the Everyday Work of Shalom" she talks about her single friend Steven who works with marginalized people. She says, "[Steven] won't let us settle into our world of kids and mortgages and family joys and squabbles, and forget that our family is part of a larger movement- the kingdom coming. And honestly, having our comfort challenged by our friend can be a pain in the neck. I can feel guilty and bothered. But I need my friend and I need to be reminded of the marginalized. And he needs us: young parents who are ordinary and worn out."
LOVED her chapter on liturgical time. I was pleasantly surprised at how strong and sound her ecclesiology was in her chapter "Congregation and Community". The latter half of the book was incredibly insightful and thought-provoking, and I, as a disabled person, really appreciated her distinction and understanding between waiting and resting (she has a chapter on each). This book isn't a heavy theological or academic book- and it may be criticized as being fluffy- but it is a great fly-over of daily life and how our daily rituals can and does reflect aspects of our souls and God's posture towards us. She is well-read without being lofty- in that her quotes are awesome. Seriously, I told my husband that I wanted to re-read this immediately to mark out quotes of hers and others that she quotes.
Among some pretty heavy and sad reads, "Liturgy of the Ordinary" was light and refreshing to my soul as it set out- in plain and simple English- how every moment of everyday life can be reclaimed for the glory of God and the good of our souls.
*last note that was totally not her fault but her editor's- I did not like the blurbs in the middle of each page that bolded quotes- you know, the kind that you would find as "tweet this" in a blog article. A book is literally the opposite of a tweet.