Walking through Space Together: Ritual, Liturgy, and Communal Values
When I taught cultural geography, I would describe Andean culture used the climatic zones to sustain a community. Part of the recognition of communal labor and need for these zones was recognized at harvest time through a community ritual of walking through the zones and bringing produce from each zone into the church. I would then ask my students to identify an American ritual where everyone expressed a common value through the carrying out of a common symbolic ritual. Often we would land on Thanksgiving as the purist cultural ritual in terms of the shared value and meaning—thankfulness—and in terms of the ritual—a meal where millions of turkeys, pies, cranberries, and mashed potatoes are eaten together with others.
As a geographer, I am drawn to visual representations and physical or concrete expressions of values and rituals, whether it is looking at cultural landscapes, eating turkey, or surrounding myself with art that reminds me of relationships and experiences that have profoundly shaped me. For example, for a decade of my life I was involved in the Overground Railroad and hosted Central American refugee families while they waited for their papers for Canada. I have a beautiful side table made by one of them. I have a basket woven by a Coushatta Native American that I received when I was working with the Houma tribe in Louisiana. I now have a beautiful rug under my kitchen table which was a gift from my colleagues at FC College in Pakistan. My pieces of art remind me of times when I engaged in communal action that drew people together across social, cultural, and political divides. As I walk through space in my daily routine, I remember those with whom I have worked collaboratively toward some communal goal.
John Skillen, in his book, Putting Art (back) in its Place, argues that art is meant to be a reminder of a communal understanding. He goes on to describe the placement of art in public spaces such as churches to frame this communal nature of values. Skillen points out that the meaning of the word liturgy is simply, “the work of the people.” As we carry out various liturgies associated with daily, weekly, or seasonal rituals, this definition reminds us that ritual and liturgy are tied to a sense of obligation to contribute to the public good or to involve ourselves in acts of service. In Andean villages at harvest time, communities incorporate public service as an element of ritual. Ritual and liturgy, rightly placed, should express shared values through communal acts of service. The challenge of any leader is to understand the culture of the organization in which they serve, and to incorporate ritual and liturgy in a meaningful and authentic way to the life of the organization. This task is not easy. It involves walking through different “climatic zones” and challenges while embodying and reminding everyone of the communally-held values that are expressed in the institutional mission. There is a physical-ness to this task that I continue to ponder.