Liturgy helps us enter into a counter-intuitive story. In this individualistic, spontaneous world with a passion for relevance-liturgy concretely shows us what is communal about faith. In a culture that says that truth is a product of the mind, liturgy helps us experience truth specifically in our lives. Liturgy teaches us the patience to live into a relevance that the world knows not.

For those who wonder if it is worth committing themselves to a liturgical tradition, or whether or not liturgy sharpens a Christian’s focus, or blurs it from what is most important, Beyond Smells and Bells explains what exactly liturgy does to us and how it shapes us, as we participate in it week after week, year after year.