Book Review: Ordinary

Unfortunately, I am way behind on my reading goals for this year. Some of that can be attributed to finally finishing my Ph. D. Some of it to the busyness of our family as we have grown from 2 to 4 kids. Some of it is also due to some laziness on my part. Nevertheless, when I’ve gotten out of the habit of regular reading, I’ve found it helpful to complete some short books to get me back into the swing of things.

Recently, I picked up Tony Merida’s book Ordinary because it looked good and because it looked like a quick read. Both of my initial assessments were true. This book is one that you can complete quickly, but you will want to read it with pen in hand–it is packed full of great stuff.

Merida’s goal is to encourage and equip Christians to live their faith in very normal and biblical ways:

Ordinary is not the call to be more radical. If anything, it is a call to the contrary. The kingdom of God isn’t coming with light shows, and shock and awe, but with lowly acts of service. I want to push back against sensationalism and “rock star Christianity,” and help people understand that they can make a powerful impact by practicing ordinary Christianity.

He accomplishes his goal by taking believers back to a first century understanding of “doing church” that focuses on neighbor love, hospitality, care for the vulnerable, advocacy, humility, and social justice.

There are times when loving your neighbor or volunteering in your local school may feel mundane. In fact, Merida says that doing these plain ordinary things can feel down right “inconsequential.” But, Christians must have a long-term view. Christians living ordinary Christian lives must be content to see the end goal and to trust that an “ordinary Christian life most often leads to extraordinary consequences.”

Merida does a good job of emphasizing the gospel as primary while continuing to keep social action as of utmost importance. Having the heart of God means loving what God loves and caring for whole people. Merida puts it this way, “Love involves compassion that leads to action.” It is insincere to claim to love God and not love what he loves. It is hypocritical to claim to love your neighbors and not show compassion and concern for their problems.

The two greatest strengths in this book are Merida’s emphasis on Kingdom Hospitality and care for the vulnerable and victimized. He also shows how the two issues are not completely separate. Often, the best way to care for the most vulnerable among us is by opening up our homes and inviting them in, not to entertain, but to love, serve, and restore. He shows how foster care and adoption are prime examples of showing hospitality to care for the vulnerable.

For Merida, hospitality and orphan care should be ordinary, but they are not easy, “Hospitality is war. It’s not the path of least resistance.” This is my favorite passage from the book:

     I often hear people talking about adoption in romantic ways. They wrongly thing the a child “will fill the hole in their heart.” I want to tell such perspective parents that they should get a dog instead of a child. Chances are, if you adopt children, do foster care, or simply welcome that functionally fatherless girl down the street, then you probably won’t hear sweet, soft-playing music in the background.

You should play Gladiator music instead. It will be a struggle probably. You might sleep wth one eye opened for a while. But remember, we don’t care for children because of what we can get. We do it because we are citizens of the kingdom of God, and He calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We do it to show the world what our King is like, and what He has done for us. And if we have nay longing for reward, we need to remember that it won’t ultimately come in this life, but in the next.

I grow tired of books and speakers who paint the Christian life as all roses without thorns. As I seek to live out the life Christ has called me to, I find great joy and satisfaction, but I also find heart-ache and struggle. The effort to live more “sold out” or whatever the latest phrase may be just doesn’t happen when the house is upside down and kids are screaming, or have lice, or strep throat, or seem to hate you just because you have opened up your home and heart to them in their time of greatest need. Often when I lean in to smell the roses of my Christian journey, the thorns stick me–and sometimes get stuck in my hand and get infected.

That is why Merida’s book is a breath of fresh air. He is realistic about the struggles of living this “ordinary” Christian life to which all followed of Jesus have been called. Following Jesus is not always easy. Hospitality is messy, loving your neighbors is hard work. Here is Merida’s summary of the struggles of orphan care:

It’s challenging. Doing orphan care isn’t easy. My wife says she never struggled with cussing until she became a mother. Some days I think we will have been successful parents if we keep them out of prison; other days, I think we will have been successful if I stay out of prison.

The ordinary Christian life doesn’t write books or teach simulcasts. The ordinary Christian life may not drill water wells in Africa or pray at presidential inaugurations. In fact, the ordinary Christian may never worship in a church of more than 75, but extraordinary consequences that can abound.

Read Merida’s book to learn about the “Joyful and unpredictable” adventure of orphan care as children learn to love and be loved. Read about
the biblical foundations for advocacy and social justice. Then, celebrate a book that helps you to live your very ordinary life for an extraordinary King who has invited you into His Kingdom to change this world.