I recently came across a book that really spoke to me called The God Of The Mundane: Reflections on Ordinary Life for Ordinary People
Here is the description on the back of the book:
This is a book about pastors, plumbers, dental hygienists, and stay-at-home moms. It finds grace and mercy in chicken fingers, smiles from strangers, and classic films, and ultimately convicts us of something Matt Redmond has learned for himself: there is a God of the mundane, and it’s not about what we do for him. It’s about what he does for us.
The book is a haven for people like you and me who have burnout from the church of do more, try harder. Often such messages lead to bitterness, disappointment, and hopelessness rather than the faith they command. Redmond not only has been exhausted by these messages himself, but as a former pastor, he humbly admits to having at times implored his weary flock to do things like sell it all and become missionaries, when so many were struggling through their mundane existence: “It never felt right, but it preached well.”
Matt Redmond and his wife, Bethany. Photo courtesy of Matt Redmond.
No longer a pastor but now working a regular job at a bank branch, Redmond is convinced that what people need to hear is a message of everyday grace. In the book he gets this across in a very approachable way that is in sync with his point, often through personal anecdotes. Here are some highlights I hope will make you want to buy the book here:
I had two people in mind as I wrote. … The first is the stay-at-home mom. She does the same chores everyday. She fixes meals not always appreciated. She changes diapers, does laundry, dusts, does homework, sweeps and heals sick kids, world without end. And then she goes to church and hears sermons, or is recommended books that make her sick with worry that she is not doing enough. … But there was another. A man, stuck. Stuck in a job that feels small—a job making him feel small. He is not embarrassed of his job so much as just miserable. … He believes the gospel but has no idea what that means for him in this dead-end job. He also reads books and hears sermons. And they make his work feel even smaller. … I wanted him to believe his work was inherently spiritual and good. Even if he hates it each and every moment.
My favorite story from the book is one about Redmond’s dental hygienist, Candance, who’s had her ordinary job for 30 years. At a dental cleaning, which he describes in detail, he asks Candance why she decided to do what she does for a living. She responds:
‘I don’t know … When I was a little girl, I was terrified of the dentist and threw up every time I had to go. … When I graduated from high school, I figured I had to something. So I studied to do this … I used to have this little boy who came to me. And he would throw up every single time he came. … I would never get to finish cleaning his teeth. One day I decided along with his mom, that we were gonna just clean him up and sit him right back down in the chair and finish. … And he never threw up again. I suppose I’m doing this cause I know what it feels like to be scared of the dentist.‘
Redmond goes on to say:
Candace is a Christian and we have talked about church life and faith a good bit before. Actually she talks and I nod. If she had not been holding shiny sharp objects in my mouth I would’ve told her how glad I am she does what she does. When sin entered the world through Adam’s Fall, along with it came death and pain. Also, it ushered in plaque and tartar, cavities and abscesses, root canals and gums that get damaged. And children full of fear to the point that their stomachs do violence to the whole room. Candace’s hospitality, smiles, digital picture frames, and skills are pushing back Adam’s Fall, day-in and day-out. When she wields those weapons of mouth destruction she is not just fighting gum disease and the need for a filling, she is fighting against the effects of sin.
Thank God for Candace. She doesn’t need to sell all her belongings and become a missionary for God to be at work in her vocation. Not that there is anything at all wrong with foreign missions, but there is a problem with a Christianity that tells us to serve God we must go to comparable extremes, living fantastically radical lives. Most dental hygienists look to the world as nobodies special, and as a matter of fact, that’s exactly who Redmond urges all of us to be:
The ‘you’re nobody special’ message may be the most freeing message of all. Especially for those who have the banner of ‘mundane’ flying kite-high over their life. Now you can just be yourself. Over against being the abstract, ‘special,’ you can land on the hard concrete reality of being yourself. Only more so. No need to be the pie-in-the-sky version of someone else’s idea of what special is. You can now just love God, love others, and be nobody.
I recently reached out to Redmond when I learned he and I live in the same town. He was surprised to read in my email to him that I found his book life-giving. He wrote me back, “‘Life-giving?’ That’s about as high a compliment as I can imagine. There is a strangeness in hearing that, though.” I’m sure it’s strange, but it’s true that a book that gave an ambitious minister like me permission to be nobody was a liberating gesture of pastoral care.
Update: Click here to listen to Matt Schneider interviewing Matthew B. Redmond on The God of the Mundane.
COMMENTS
5 responses to “Grace and Mercy in Chicken Fingers: Matt Redmond’s God of the Mundane”
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What a marvelous book! I, too, am really tired of all this ‘radical christian (small ‘c’ on purpose) living’ stuff. As you’ve said, not many Christians go and sell all they have, and go off to be missionaries in the bush somewhere. Mr Redmond’s book is an antidote for those of us tired of being beaten over the head with ‘try harder’, etc., etc.. Thanks so much!
I’d have two things to say to this I guess. First off, that the directive to do “radical” things is so prevalent because it seems like it’s right, does it not? Shouldn’t we (Americans) the richest people in the world, be finding ways to give our money away that really helps people and brings the gospel to people. Shouldn’t we go on short term mission trips and then also perhaps sell everything and move to [enter random African or Asian country] and sacrifice our comforts to love those people in order to bring people to Christ. And of course, pastors love it because we see it in Scripture. That’s what we see from all of the Apostles and from many new believers in Acts. Yes, we’ll say that Acts is descriptive rather than prescriptive, but of course in reality all that means is that it gets seen as the gold standard, the golden example for us to live up to, which of course keeps it squarely in the prescriptive box. And I mean, once again, shouldn’t we be doing these things. I mean, Christ entered himself into humanity and experience suffering as we do and then took on more than we ever could in order for us AND everyone else to be able to reconciled to him and to know him. And so…. the guilt. Just… all of the guilt. Just pile it on.
The second thing to say is that of course what this often means for most of us is that rather than do these radical things, we retreat. Once it becomes a law it becomes something to run from. I could sell everything I’ve got and move to [random African nation where there are starving people] or…. I could watch Netflix. I mean… for real though. It’s just like, let’s not even think about this. Because it’s terrifying. Because it seems like a lot. Because what if I go to the wrong place. And then the guilt of course because of the thoughts like, “Oh well if this is terrifying to me then it is in fact because, like my pastor says, I don’t have faith or enough faith.” And then of course you’re on a path to nowhere at that point. Or on a path to somewhere… that isn’t very helpful.
And then… at the same time… there need to be missionaries. Many many missionaries.
Not sure I’ll be reading the book any time soon because… well I’ve got a stack of unread books on my bookshelf and an even longer “gotta read to be better at life” list. So…. yeah.
This is a great book, so glad you found it. It is superbly un-hip, uncool and freeing. Most definitely belongs on Mockingbird.