Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
Week 7: Chapter 6 — Checking My Phone: Attention, Distraction, and the Presence of God
Read Chapter 6 of Liturgy of the Ordinary. Key passages: Psalm 46:10; Matthew 6:22–23.
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Few acts are more automatic or more revealing than reaching for our phones — this chapter asks what our digital habits are forming us to love.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Warren is honest that checking her phone is the default act of transition in her day — the thing she reaches for in every empty moment. How does she frame this not merely as a distraction problem but as a formation problem? What is she being formed toward?
2.She draws on the idea that attention is a form of love — that what we attend to shapes what we cherish and who we become. Do you experience your phone (or its equivalent) as forming you in ways you have not chosen? What have you noticed?
3.Warren is not calling for a wholesale rejection of technology but for a conscious and liturgical approach to it. What does a 'liturgical' approach to digital life actually look like in practice?
a.Are there specific rules, rhythms, or rituals you have tried (or could try) to bring intention to your phone use?
b.What is the hardest thing about resisting the pull of constant connectivity?
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