Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
Week 3: Chapter 2 — Making the Bed: Liturgy, Ritual, and What Forms Us
Read Chapter 2 of Liturgy of the Ordinary. Key passage: Deuteronomy 6:4–9.
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Making the bed is almost too small to think about — which is exactly why Warren thinks it matters so much.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Warren uses the act of making the bed as an entry point into the broader question of ritual and habit. What distinction does she make between a 'mere habit' (something we do mindlessly) and a 'liturgy' (something that carries meaning and forms us)? Is the line always clear?
2.She argues that our small daily rituals are 'thick' with meaning — they tell a story about what we believe about order, beauty, the body, and the day ahead. Think about one small daily ritual of your own. What story does it tell, or what do you think it is quietly teaching you?
3.Warren draws on Deuteronomy 6 — the command to bind God's words on your hands and doorposts — to suggest that God has always intended embodied, repeated, physical practices to carry faith. Why does faith need the *body* to take hold? Why isn't purely mental assent enough?
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