Ordinary: Tempering Radical

Let's say you attend a Women's Conference. It isn't anything flashy. The poster advertising the event doesn't promise life changing advice or earth shattering results. The main speaker is "plain jane" and not clad in today's bling or tomorrow's trendy. The conference doesn't have a gymnasium full of booths with famous authors signing autographs. Neither are there inspirational coffee mugs with quasi-Christian phrases for sale. The atmosphere is not frenetic or vacuous. Rather, the events are fairly ordinary. God's Word is expounded with integrity. Prayers are spoken in unison and in private. Songs are offered with sincerity. The Lord's Supper is observed. And genuine thankfulness is offered to our God for divine redemption through His Son and the Gift of His Spirit until He returns.

Doesn't that sound refreshing? Why doesn't everything these days have to be spectacular?

I just finished reading a book entitled Or·di·nar·y by Michael Horton. I read Radical by David Platt in early 2012. It is actually by no accident that both books sport an orange cover, and that Horton's book is entitled with an antonym to "radical". After all, Horton argues

...that the underlying theology behind oft-heard calls to be wild and crazy radical believers—as if Christianity were an extreme sport—is works righteousness in a new, consumerist mode... 

Instead of another call to be radical, extraordinary, or transformative, Horton would have us return to the ordinary means of grace, those practices of the church in which God has promised to make himself known: preaching the gospel, teaching the faith, administering the sacraments, and worshiping with a local congregation. Instead of advertising life-changing experiences or the next big thing, the aim is a sustainable faith for the long haul. The great strength of being ordinary, after all, is that you can do it for a lifetime.*

When I read Radical more than three years ago, it was the book that I needed to contemplate at that point in time. Now, it wasn't like I was particularly complacent in my faith then. Neither was I living life with the goal to amass wealth and build my kingdom on earth. But I needed some inspiration. I needed some exhortation to live life more simply so we could financially invest in missions and missionaries. And God distilled those lessons that the book immersed me in so that I could passionately advocate missional living in our church. I still believe the book Radical is worth the read and worth considering.

Yet, as I've finished Or·di·nar·y, I understand Horton's reasons for writing the book. Consider my words in the post "What I Really Want", which was written soon after reading Radical:

But today I feel discontent. I desire more from life. I long to be the change I want to see in the world. I want my family and I to make a difference in our community and in our world. But most importantly, I crave to know Christ more, even though I am scared to discover more truth.

You can clearly sense my discontentment, my dissatisfaction with the ordinary. You can see how I desire to be ambitious, to do something BIG for the Kingdom of Christ. The only redeeming quality from the above paragraph is that I crave to know Christ more.

Horton addresses people like me, who get caught up in a movement and then feel guilty and anxious when we are not measuring up to some holy standard out there set by our Christian cultural icons. Our lives become pursuits of our amazing dreams and fantastic agendas instead of being content in our ordinary -- seemingly mundane -- lives where we aim to surrender to God's providence and love the people God has already placed in our path. When we seek our own legacy, our faith in Christ becomes misplaced. "Where the biblical message calls us to the cross, to die to self and to be raised in Christ, the new message calls the old Adam to an improved self, empowered to fulfill more easily his own life project," (pg. 102).

Now, in all fairness, Horton isn't against those with exceptional callings, those who have been chosen by God to be inspirational -- radical -- leaders in the faith. Rather, he is making the argument that if we clamor after radical Christianity instead of pursuing Christ, we have a serious problem. And, he goes on to state that pursuing Christ is practiced in the everyday, in the ordinary.

I admire Horton's courage to critique esteemed American Christian ideologies or institutions, such as democracy or the "youth group". He also offers fascinating perspectives on how to equip people in the church (e.g. evangelicals would benefit from bringing back traditional catechisms and corporate prayers of faith). While I don't agree with everything he proposed, it would be fun to unpack some of his ideas in this space (and maybe one day I will). But this post isn't meant to be a book review, but rather it is meant to document an aha moment for myself. Three years ago, I admitted that I didn't want to be mediocre and materialist. I didn't want to use my comfort as an excuse for not getting involved in something risky for the sake of the Gospel (i.e. Platt's Radical). I still adhere to my stance. But today, I am relieve to confess that I don't want to discount my current "plain jane", less-than-spectacular life. I don't want to be embarrassed that my teaching career is lackluster for very good reasons. Neither do I want to overlook the grace of God in my everyday, in my stay-at-home Mother status. Albeit ordinary, my currently life calling isn't unimportant in God's eyes (i.e. Horton's Or·di·nar·y). That is very encouraging.

*Cary, Phillip. "The Case Against 'Radical' Christianity" Rev. of Or·di·nar·y, by Michael Horton. Christianity Today: 1 Oct. 2014: website.

Another good review, which discusses both Platt & Horton, is found here.