Article originally printed in The Tower, a seasonal magazine produced by St Michael's Church in Edinburgh.
Ordinary Kindness, Extraordinary God
Serving God in the 21st century often begins with a simple question: How can we show God’s love in practical, tangible ways? In a fast, demanding world, small acts, a listening ear, an offer of help, a friendly conversation, can become doorways to God’s care.
Many people are hesitant to walk into a church. Ministry today often happens where people already are: coffee shops, supermarkets, community groups, online spaces, or across the kitchen table.
Kindness in these spaces reflects God’s character. Larry Crabb in Connecting writes:
“The absolute centre of what [God] does is to reveal himself to us. And a critical element is to place us in a community of people who are enough like him to give us that taste firsthand.”
People experience God through ordinary acts of love.
This is not about grand gestures but presence. Colin Urquhart in My Dear Son reminds us God cares,
“In the small details as well as the major concerns.”
Our calling is to show up in ordinary moments of life.
Yet ordinary is often dismissed as dull or substandard. Paula Gooder observes in Everyday God, that “ordinary” is out of fashion; lacklustre at best and sub-standard at worst. We are constantly told that our lives need to be bigger, better and more attractive. In reality, most of our daily existence is ordinary, and we doom ourselves to a life of dissatisfaction and disappointment if we cannot live contentedly with the everyday. God is present in the ordinary, and missing it is missing life itself.
R. S. Thomas captures this in The Bright Field:
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
The extraordinary often hides in the ordinary. Through acts of kindness during the day-to-day, we share that glimpse of God. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians:
“At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality. The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
Kindness creates equality, builds community, and shows God’s care in both great and small ways. Ministry today is less about spectacular acts and more about ordinary actions infused with extraordinary love. When life is busy, these acts become the bright fields pointing to eternity, reminders that God is present in the life we really live and in the communities around us.
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