After the meaningful work last year's 8 Bible class discovered in doing "liturgical audits", I decided to return to this activity this year. Jamie Smith, Professor at Calvin College, coined the phrase "liturgical audit" in his book, You Are What You Love. A liturgical audit looks at activities, experiences or "liturgies", if you will, in our lives, and considers what is entailed in that activity as well as how that activity shapes us over time.
One example I gave was hiking with my friend. A typical hike for me is 3-5 miles on local trails with a dear friend. When I consider what those Saturday morning hikes to do me, connection is at the top of my list. I connect with God, nature, myself, and my friend. Seeing beautiful places resets my mind and gives my soul life. The physical exercise relieves stress and helps keep me healthy. Over time, the list of positives far outweighs the list of negatives. Sometimes my hiking ritual, or liturgy, comes with guilt. After a long week of work, I feel guilty being away from my family. Or perhaps I should be doing something more productive with my Saturday morning such as cleaning my house or mowing the yard?
After students brainstormed a list of ways we spend our time, they divided into groups with each other. Each group spent 10-15 minutes creating two lists: one list of what they "do" in that activity, and another list of what that activity "does to" them as they are involved in it. Activities such as sports, homework, and video games were the top picks.
The hardest part of the lesson is when we put all the boards up in the front of the room and looked for themes or observations. I could see the wheels turning, and a few courageous students shared the following:
- God created us with unique interests and abilities.
- All of the boards seem to mention stress--stress is a part of everything we do, whether positive or negative.
- Spending time leads to improvement. In other words, what you choose to spend your time on determines what skills you will improve.
- We choose activities that give us joy.
- Most activities have difficulties--some challenge our skills, others challenge us to work hard or persevere.
- We approach the activities in our lives with unique opinions and a variety of feelings or emotions.
Wow. Amen. We will continue our liturgical audit work this year in some unique ways. Stay tuned.
