Column: Ordinary life

There is this alchemy in many of the stories and parables. This alchemy involves the transformation of the ordinary into evidence and witness to the extraordinary. Jesus draws so many of his stories from familiar, everyday experience. He speaks of mustard seeds, poor widows, a lost coin, seeds planted and a wayward son returning home. This is to mention only a few. These ordinary experiences gesture well beyond themselves to wider horizons of human possibilities and expanded purpose.

The familiar Psalm that we are fond of reciting declares: “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” - Psalm 118:24 (NRSV)

A spiritual practice that I feel would be helpful would be the discipline of awakening to the blessings of life that often hide in our lives within that which we would regard as ordinary experience. We store up too much of our hope and expectation in the future and the big things that we would like to see some our way. That is certainly fine and natural, but not if it dims our perception of the daily blessings that are all around us. Today is more than just another day. But that insight takes a remarkable level of spiritual discernment. God’s grace hides in the everyday events of life.

God’s grace waits for us in chance occurrences and unexpected pleasures.

Christian fellowship centers upon common elements of bread and cup. Baptism’s promise of new life flows over us as water.

I like the following quotes about that which is regarded in our lives as ordinary:

“Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary, great minds with the ordinary.” - Blaise Pascal (1623- 1662), French mathematician and thinker

“The ordinary is divine.” - Cynthia Ozick (b. 1928), American short story writer, novelist and essayists

The necessary discipline is to acknowledge, each day, just a few moments of unexpected pleasure, goodness, insight, beauty, comfort or support.

I would like to conclude this article with a quote from Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 17 in the NRSV:

Luke 17 20 Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”