Recently on my Instagram Feed a friend asked what is #holyordinary and how does it relate to our Divine Liturgy.

Holy Ordinary is life – simple, bare, straightforward – warts and all – yet blessed. Holy Ordinary is eukharistia – a life of Thanksgiving, and contentment. Holy Ordinary is looking for God in the present moment of the ordinary-ness of daily life.

In reference to our Liturgy – let’s focus on our Litanies… fervent supplication – our Litanies orient us toward every day life enveloped in that which is needful – Thy Will be done – in the midst of the sublime foretaste of Heaven which is the Liturgy and the Eucharist. It is simple, true, beautiful and all the while majestic, Holy and sublime.

Give ear to our supplications. They are so simple and humble. We pray for the peace from above, for the welfare of our Churches, for the faithful of our communities, for the nation, the armed forces, peaceful weather and abundance of crops, for the departed as well as a good defense before the dread judgement seat (we need to take the straightforward simplicity of that seriously) , abundance of crops and travelers, sick and suffering and even for those who labor and those who are absent for worthy reasons.

These Litanies are not lofty but rather ordinary everyday petitions and they teach the believer to lift up every moment & encounter, every work and labor to the Lord.

God is not hidden in an ark, but present in every moment of our lives – in our successes and struggles and even failures. In all we give thanks and blessing and all glory to God.

God is in the everyday ordinary moments of life. And so while we cherish the spectacular grandeur and glory of the Divine Liturgy to lift our hearts and our entire lives unto Christ our God – we also remember that our very lives are meant to be an Anaphora . In the Liturgy of Life God is present not only our Churches – where we partake of the Holy Mysteries of our Faith and pray corporately – He is also in the mundane ordinary seconds, minutes, hours and days in between.

Holy Ordinary is about dedicating our life – every moment – to prayer. I can pray on my commute to work, I can pray when I start my coffee pot, when I am doing dishes, changing my baby’s diaper, making lunch for a friend, weeding my garden or cleaning my house. The Scriptures of filled with ordinary people, with some honest to goodness messiness in their lives. Mary – our sweet Panagia and Theotokos – was an ordinary girl.

Life is filled in unadorned, naked and ordinary moments, and when we listen and are open to Father Son and Holy Spirit the ordinary can become extraordinary.