Toward a Distinct Identity: The Caribbean Moravian Praise Liturgy Book

Abstract

Agency, according to Kath Woodward, is one of the five key components central to understanding how identity is formed. The other four main elements are structures, same, difference, and symbols/representation. Structures are the forces beyond our control that shape identity. Sameness underscores how one can use similarity as a marker to form identity. Difference acknowledges the characteristics that make us dissimilar from others as a pointer in identity formation. Symbols or representations highlight agreement on a specific tangible object that encapsulates the elements of the identity being espoused. Agency underscores just how much control one applies in determining one’s identity. Though these factors which Woodward itemizes intersect, making it difficult to demarcate the role of each in identity formation, I have decided to highlight agency in this paper and to propose that the 2017 publication of the Caribbean Moravian Praise Liturgy Book be seen as an expression of liturgical agency. This Liturgy Book accompanied the new hymnal, Caribbean Moravian Praise (henceforth known as the CMP), which was adopted as the official hymnal by the two Unity Provinces of the Moravian Church in the Caribbean: the Province of the Eastern West Indies and the Province of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. In another published article, I highlighted the editorial process which informed the compilation of the hymnal, making the case that it reflects the goal to offer a worship resource that would ensure “balanced singing.” In this article, I draw attention to the Liturgy Book and its content, highlighting mainly the new litanies which were included in the volume. By examining the content of these new litanies, I contend that the liturgical vocabulary of the faithful, in the Caribbean Moravian context, has been expanded to their benefit. Agency, then, is expressed through the use of the English language within the framework of corporate worship. To be more precise, I am defining liturgical agency here as the coordinated and intentional exercise of the will of a group of people to create a common liturgical resource. In this process, the liturgical agency is most evident in that the content has been determined by their own criteria which are primarily, though not exclusively, informed by the local context. In the process of identity formation, agency, by its very definition, cannot simply be theorized. It must be actualized. Within the pages of the Liturgy Book, therefore, one finds agency manifested both in theory and in practice. The theory is captured in the language of the prayers in the new litanies while agency manifests in practice when the prayers are read and heard for worship.