When You Work for the Church

Last week I posted This Ordinary, Extraordinary Life Cover Reveal on my main writing website. I’m still celebrating! 

Today, I’d like to introduce my new book by sharing part of the introduction, so please read on. . . .

This Ordinary, Extraordinary Life

by April Yamasaki

This Ordinary, Extraordinary Life (CSS Publishing, 2023) is available from CSS Publishing, on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and by order from your favourite bookstore. Below is an excerpt from the introduction. 

This Ordinary, Extraordinary Life is all about Jesus—and it’s all about you and me and the world around us.

Jesus lived an ordinary life. He had parents, brothers and sisters, and an extended family. He worked with his hands and read the Scriptures. He got hungry, thirsty, tired, just like anyone else. He loved to spend time with people—telling stories, going to parties, blessing children and their parents, and talking about things that mattered. He loved creation—spending time outdoors, walking for miles, observing and commenting on flowers and fields of grain, on trees and birds.

Jesus lived—and continues to live!—an extraordinary life. As the Divine Word, he was present before creation, and through him all things were created. As the second person of the Trinity, he was God Incarnate. He gave his earthly life to preaching and teaching, to healing and doing wonders. He welcomed people from all walks of life and called them to follow him. As the Bread of Life, the Bread of Heaven, he gave his life for the world. He died in humiliation and pain on a cross—then rose again to life! He returned to heaven, and one day will come again in glory.

Today my ordinary life includes making meals, doing dishes and laundry, shopping for groceries, spending time with family and friends, reading Scripture, worshiping with my church, speaking, writing, editing, gardening, going for walks outdoors, eating, staying hydrated, sleeping, driving, taking the car in for service, talking on the phone, doing email, and tending to a million other things. You may have other ordinary activities that are uniquely yours, but many of the things on my list are part of your ordinary life too.

Yet by faith in Jesus, our ordinary lives can become extraordinary. Grace breaks in to the routine of daily living. Ordinary bread becomes a sign of God’s kingdom. Ordinary water becomes a sign of God’s living presence among us. Miracles become possible. Love and forgiveness transform our relationships. Hope abides even in the midst of disappointment and suffering. Death gives way to eternal life.

Does all this sound too good to be true? Certainly no book of sermons can express the fullness of the ordinary, extraordinary life of Jesus. And this side of heaven, our lives may feel more ordinary than extraordinary most of the time. But this is the promise of God’s kingdom—that God is at work, that what starts small will grow, that with faith the ordinary can be extraordinary.

This Ordinary, Extraordinary Life(CSS Publishing, 2023) is now available from CSS Publishing, on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and by order from your favourite bookstore.