The first half of the Christian year brought us seasons filled with celebration, reflection, and anticipation. However, during the six month season of “Ordinary Time,” there are few celebrations or holidays; it is the silent half of the calendar. As we enter this season, it can feel vast and uninviting. The adjective definition of the word “ordinary” is “of a kind to be expected in the normal order of events.” We find this is a season of normal living under regular circumstances. During this time, we ask the question, “what should our Christian life look like every day?” If we are to truly live as Christ’s Church, then the first step is waking up to the truth of our ordinary moments. Oddly enough, it is in these mundane moments of our daily lives we find our true beliefs and practices. In our current culture “ordinary” is a bad word. As a result, we are doing everything in our power to distract ourselves from the ordinary moments of life. Unfortunately, the ordina...
I recently talked to a friend of mine about a concern his family shared about our church's practices. You know, the happy conversations we like to have with our loved ones. The shared concern was that our community practices the art of liturgy and that, to them, it was a work of righteousness from "dead religion." This has not been the first time I have heard a complaint about liturgy, and it will certainly not be the last. Two years ago, I was a student chaplain at ORU and was required to lead a weekly devotional discussion with the guys in my dorm. Towards the end of our first meeting, I pulled out printed copies of a liturgy I found in my book of Common Prayer . I thought this action would help unify us as a dorm community as we lifted up one unified prayer to Christ. However, I was confronted by a wide-eyed freshman who wanted to know if I was Catholic and if he needed to move hallways. He had already taken the time earlier that week to point out that I was weari...