While doing a little research for this article, I came across a book I had read a few years ago: The Liturgy of Ordinary Life, Sacred Practices of Everyday Life, by Tish Harrison Warren. In this book, the author explains a little about how the world influences us. This influence is exerted even when we try to isolate ourselves from the world. Remember the Church of Corinth. Some of them wanted to get out of the world but lived as if they weren’t Christians. So this article will essentially be a long quote from the book that puts it so well:

« Back then, in the morning, as soon as I woke up, I used to throw myself on my smartphone. This digital caffeine pushed my foggy brain into gear and back into coherence. So, before getting up, I’d check my e-mails, scroll through the news and glance at Facebook and Twitter. (…)

It’s our habits and routines that drive most of our days, and therefore most of our lives.

Our way of « being in the world » works its way into us through ritual and repetition. James K.A. Smith explains that our particular perception of the « ideal life » takes root in us through repetitive practices that determine our lifestyle and interests1.

Consciously or unconsciously, we are shaped every day by our practices, the rituals and liturgies that make us who we are. These practices, which we often follow without thinking, we receive not only from the Church or the Bible, but also from our culture, from the « atmosphere that surrounds us ».

Flannery O’Connor once told a woman, who became a friend over the course of her letters, that « we must exert a pressure as hard as that inflicted on us by the times « 2. The Church must be a radically different people, marked by the love of the Triune God in all areas of life. But we often don’t know exactly how to become this new people. Even if we believe deeply in the Gospel and place our hopes in the Resurrection, we often feel that our days are too much like those of our non-believing neighbors – with, perhaps, a little extra spirituality.

It would seem that some Christians believe that to stand up to the world you must first and foremost have the right beliefs – have the right ideas and a biblical worldview. But while orthodoxy of doctrine3 is crucial in the Christian life, most of the time we are not motivated primarily by our conscious thoughts. More often than not, we act preconsciously. It’s rare to think about our beliefs or worldview when we’re driving, brushing our teeth or shopping. Much of what shapes our lives and culture happens « below the surface »: in our guts, in our hearts.

Other Christians have beliIt would seem that seved that resisting the world requires a radical rejection of everyday life. According to their reasoning, we become this new people if we manage to distance ourselves sufficiently from our culture, either by withdrawing from it and rejecting this or that form of art, music and media, or certain civic obligations, or by adopting a kind of Christian radicalism (living in alternative communities, renouncing a normal career, moving abroad or wanting to live among the poor). While these approaches both provide important keys to following Christ in our contemporary culture, they are not enough on their own to form a new people. They teach us to live in a specific subculture, rejecting the dominant culture in favor of our own kind of music, conferences, books, media, celebrities and lifestyle. These approaches may make us different consumers, but they don’t necessarily make us worshippers.

Whoever we are, wherever we live, whatever our beliefs and consumer preferences, we all spend our days doing different things: we live a routine shaped by our habits and practices. Smith, following St. Augustine, explains that to be a different people, we have to be shaped differently, and therefore adopt habits and practices that direct our love and desire towards God.

We don’t make up a way of « being in the world » by waking up in the morning and starting from scratch; we don’t reflect on our behavior through every action of our day. We act according to patterns we’ve established over time, day after day. And it’s these habits and practices that shape our interests and desires and, ultimately, who we are and who we worship « 4. To be continued and explained in the next article.

1 James K.A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom : Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation, Baker, 2009, p. 55.

2 Flannery O’Connor, « À « A », 12 juillet 1957, L’Habitude d’être. Correspondance (1948-1964), trad. Gabrielle Rolin (1984), dans Oeuvres complètes, Quarto, Gallimard, 2009, p. 1054. Flannery O’Connor veut dire par là que, pour ne pas se laisser influencer par la société, il faut mettre a minima autant d’énergie à nous enraciner en Christ que la société met à nous éloigner de Dieu.

3 C’est-à-dire, la véracité d’une affirmation sur la Bible.

4 Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgie de la vie ordinaire, pratiques sacrées du quotidien, trad. Marion Marti, Excelsis, 2016, p. 24-28.