Living in the Ordinary

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 ordinary is unavoidable, and we resort to numbing ourselves from our own reality. With social media at our fingertips, we are continually viewing media content. We can craft an entire life for ourselves online that is not an authentic representation of who we are in reality. We sit in front of our TV and watch extraordinary events and stories happen before our eyes. We do not want to allow ourselves to succumb to the harsh mundanity of reality.

Why are we afraid of the ordinary?

Because the word “ordinary” has become a synonym for “meaningless.” 

The belief that much of our culture has come to accept is: “if my life is ordinary, that means my life is meaningless.” However, in the middle of it all, we as humans continue to have an innate yet always unsatisfied longing to find belonging, meaning, and something real. 

As a Christian, I, like many of my contemporaries, have longed to live a meaningful life, one that is full of good works for Christ. When I was younger, I dreamed of serving Christ on a large scale as a worship leader on a stage in front of thousands. I thought that big things were needed to make an impact in my world. As many do, I long for the extraordinary, but when I look at my life that is not the word I would use to describe it. Ordinary would probably be the most fitting. 

This makes me ask the question: if meaning is found through excitement, through big things, then why is the majority of real life so unexciting and so small?

The amazing truth is that Christ validated the ordinary by coming down to earth as a man. He humbled himself in the form of humanity, and for 30 years he may not have had a public ministry. For 30 years of his life, he lived much like we do today. He interacted with his family, he played, he worked, he ate and drank. He cried, he laughed, he got frustrated, and he experienced boredom. Christ, the Son of God experienced all of this himself to show us that it was and is extremely important to him. 

God knows the intricacies of human life. He created us to work, to eat, to rest, to fellowship, and to enjoy. Christ did not only come to die for our sins but also to teach us how to live as the Kingdom of God. Christ’s life on earth validates and reflects our own lives. We live out his teachings in our daily lives – in our ordinary day to day rhythms. 

In his Devotional work, “My Utmost for His Highest,” Oswald Chambers observes that “[o]ur circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is.” More often then not our regular circumstances look like our workplaces and our homes. Chambers continues by stating that “as we go on in grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, in the present minute. If we have God’s say-so behind us, the most amazing strength comes, and we learn to sing in the ordinary days and ways.”

The Christian calendar has grounded us in the truth of God’s story, and the incredible life and sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ. We ponder what Christ’s sacrifice means for our lives and how we ought to live as “Easter People,” people who live in light of an empty tomb. Through Pentecost, we were reminded of the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts which empowers us, in the same manner as the early church, to carry on the ministry of Christ on earth. Now, we enter this new season of the “ordinary.” We now focus on what it looks like to live as the people of God on earth, right where we are placed. To sing praise in the ordinary, manifesting the kingdom into the beautifully mundane. 

During this time it is important for us to take a good look at the culture surrounding us, as well as our own patterns of belief and behavior and ask the hard questions. How have we allowed our theology to be warped by the prominent thoughts of our culture? How do we live set apart and yet constantly be inviting others in? How should we be expected to live as Christ’s church in the normal events of our lives?

Prayer of Teilhard de Chardin

"God, at his most vitally active and most

incarnate, is not remote from us, wholly

apart from the sphere of the tangible; on

the contrary, at every moment, he awaits

us in the activity, the work to be done,

which every moment brings."

–––––– Hartley Blessing