Essential Workers, Essential Services? <i>Leitourgia</i> in Light of Lockdown
Within days of the outbreak of COVID-19, the language of “essential work” and “essential workers” became commonplace in public discourse. “Church workers” and their in-person liturgical services were largely deemed “non-essential”, and most assemblies shifted worship to online platforms. While some...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-02-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/2/101 |
| _version_ | 1797416411474165760 |
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| author | Bryan Cones |
| author_facet | Bryan Cones |
| author_sort | Bryan Cones |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Within days of the outbreak of COVID-19, the language of “essential work” and “essential workers” became commonplace in public discourse. “Church workers” and their in-person liturgical services were largely deemed “non-essential”, and most assemblies shifted worship to online platforms. While some reflection on this virtual “church work” has appeared in the intervening months, there has been less evaluation of the gathered assembly’s absence from the public square, along with the contribution its liturgical work might offer in interpreting the pandemic and its effects. This essay imagines a post-COVID-19 agenda for liturgical studies that focuses on a recovery of Christian liturgy as public, in-person, and “essential” service done for the sake of the <i>polis</i>—a public example of “church doing world”—that proposes a countersign to the inequalities of contemporary consumer culture laid bare in these last months. It begins by engaging in dialogue with the <i>leitourgia</i> of groups who insisted on the essential nature of their public service, in particular the public protests against police violence that marked the summer of 2020. In doing so, it seeks ways liturgical assemblies might better propose a “public theology” of God’s work in the world understood as the <i>concursus Dei,</i> the divine accompanying of creation and humanity within it. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:03:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f8c53565d444407d91cadf04732fa0d1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:03:51Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-f8c53565d444407d91cadf04732fa0d12023-12-03T12:06:51ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442021-02-0112210110.3390/rel12020101Essential Workers, Essential Services? <i>Leitourgia</i> in Light of LockdownBryan Cones0Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity, Parkville, VIC 3052, AustraliaWithin days of the outbreak of COVID-19, the language of “essential work” and “essential workers” became commonplace in public discourse. “Church workers” and their in-person liturgical services were largely deemed “non-essential”, and most assemblies shifted worship to online platforms. While some reflection on this virtual “church work” has appeared in the intervening months, there has been less evaluation of the gathered assembly’s absence from the public square, along with the contribution its liturgical work might offer in interpreting the pandemic and its effects. This essay imagines a post-COVID-19 agenda for liturgical studies that focuses on a recovery of Christian liturgy as public, in-person, and “essential” service done for the sake of the <i>polis</i>—a public example of “church doing world”—that proposes a countersign to the inequalities of contemporary consumer culture laid bare in these last months. It begins by engaging in dialogue with the <i>leitourgia</i> of groups who insisted on the essential nature of their public service, in particular the public protests against police violence that marked the summer of 2020. In doing so, it seeks ways liturgical assemblies might better propose a “public theology” of God’s work in the world understood as the <i>concursus Dei,</i> the divine accompanying of creation and humanity within it.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/2/101public theologyliturgyeucharistCOVID-19pandemicassembly |
| spellingShingle | Bryan Cones Essential Workers, Essential Services? <i>Leitourgia</i> in Light of Lockdown Religions public theology liturgy eucharist COVID-19 pandemic assembly |
| title | Essential Workers, Essential Services? <i>Leitourgia</i> in Light of Lockdown |
| title_full | Essential Workers, Essential Services? <i>Leitourgia</i> in Light of Lockdown |
| title_fullStr | Essential Workers, Essential Services? <i>Leitourgia</i> in Light of Lockdown |
| title_full_unstemmed | Essential Workers, Essential Services? <i>Leitourgia</i> in Light of Lockdown |
| title_short | Essential Workers, Essential Services? <i>Leitourgia</i> in Light of Lockdown |
| title_sort | essential workers essential services i leitourgia i in light of lockdown |
| topic | public theology liturgy eucharist COVID-19 pandemic assembly |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/2/101 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bryancones essentialworkersessentialservicesileitourgiaiinlightoflockdown |