Secular liturgies

Here are a few more summarizing thoughts on You Are What You Love by James K.A. Smith mainly from the 2nd chapter.

After making the argument that we are more than thinking things and brains-on-a-stick, it's very reasonable to consider that we might be what we love. But then this question comes up -  what if we don't love what we think we love? If someone asks me, "What do I love?," I know what the right answer should be just like every kid in Sunday school - Jesus. But what about the competing loves in my heart? The rival kingdoms that fight for my allegiance? And how did they get there in the first place?

This is where Smith proposes something that I had never really considered before. We think of habits as something we do, but what if these habits do something to us? Therefore, the seemingly mindless, seemingly amoral routines, the rituals, and secular liturgies that we participate in day in and day out may be (probably are) shaping our loves in ways in which we are unaware. This can fly under the radar because we are on the lookout for conscious messages from the culture but then miss how the culture has shaped us by through our participation in its habits.

Chapter 2 gives the example of the mall as a temple and shopping as the rites of commercialism. While the mall does not having anything to do with religion per se, it has everything to do with worship. It's grimly fascinating how Smith takes the objects in the mall and our actions when we shop and translates them into a secular liturgy, one that we have learned well. We shop to find an antidote to our brokenness. (The midlife crisis car, the pair of shoes after a hard day, or even the used book.) We think of shopping as a communal activity, but it thrives on and creates competition. I shop. Therefore, I am. We never got formal instruction on how to be consumeristic, but we've imbibed its message unconsciously. Scary, right?

The author suggests taking a liturgical audit to examine where immersion in the culture has formed us through habit, not overt messages. Last night, my daughter and I were discussing academic culture and its liturgies that center around worship of the "Almighty A." Even though no one explicitly promotes this (okay perhaps Asian academic pressure which I vigorously tried to not pass on), it's still in the air.

Smith also mentions considering the stadium as a temple for nationalism and militarism. I wish he had gone into this in more detail because the problem of nationalism and its accompanying prejudices start somewhere. No one sets out to believe or promulgate stereotypes but we succumb to these unconscious biases. Not all biases grow and fester to the point where they can harm society, but they are still violations of the 2nd greatest commandment. Given the synagogue shooting in California, this merits serious consideration, in my opinion.

Thankfully, You Are What You Love doesn't end here. Smith writes that the antidote to secular liturgies are habits that are formed in the worship of the church. Discipleship in community as a whole community. So perhaps in the ordinary gathering of the saints, not extraordinary mountain top experiences, is where God reorients our loves to what really matters.

You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit - James K.A. Smith, Brazos Press, 2016.