Profaning the holy... in a good way

I remember being uncomfortable, at first, of mixing the holy with the everyday – of doing things like moving the communion ceremony to the middle of a real, full, sit-down dinner where we talk and act like we’re having a regular family meal. It was an interesting and rewarding struggle to try and bring the holy into the everyday world without completely displacing the things of everyday life, and without treating the holy like some casual thing of little consequence.

I learned that treating things of great importance with little importance (merely going casual in worship style) is one thing. Displacing the things of everyday life as if every moment all week should be lived seriously and contemplatively (trying to act all week as if one is 'in church' at every moment) is another. But bringing together everyday life with explicit acknowledgement of God and our identities in Him is still another, and more challenging. Letting God sit at the dinner table with us, or on the couch during the NHL playoffs, or at the hockey rink, feels strange: we start feeling uncomfortable, like God caught has us without our "church act" on. It was liberating to ditch the "church act" but still face the challenge of God’s explicitly acknowledged presence in the regular rhythms of everyday life. We could be real with ourselves and each other and God, but at the same time invite God to transform us, our relationships, and our lives. That's a far cry from wearing our Sunday Best all week!