David Clayton, permanent artist-in-residence at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, has written an appealing piece at The Way of Beauty, that connects the seemingly unlikely arenas of liturgy and economics. His thoughts are based on The Wellspring of Worship, by Jean Corbon, in which Corbon associates work and culture to the human experience of worship and liturgy.
Clayton admits that linking liturgy and economics may be a stretch, but upon further examination shows that, with a proper understanding of the human person, the relationships we have and bring to both our worship and our work lives are intrinsically united. Our culture suffers a sense of distance and alienation, according to Clayton, that springs from lack of liturgy, then spreads into our economics:
…the sense of alienation of the person from society through variously too much work, the lack of it, or the wrong sort; the lack of genuine community in work that supports the family, and a culture bereft of grace and beauty with art that doesn’t look like art at all, music that doesn’t sound like music, ugly mass-produced goods and ugly houses, factories, civic buildings and churches. Many who have this view blame in varying degrees causes such as capitalism, the unfettered free market, mass production, industrialisation to name four.
I share this concern about the culture and the nature of work today, not as an economist about which I know very little, but just as someone who is part of society and works. However, like Corbon, I feel that the problem to be solved is liturgical…
Clayton then reminds the reader of the importance of anthropology:
My belief is that if we adopt a model of economics that is rooted in a liturgical view of the anthropology, then we can transform the industry and the economy into power houses for culture of beauty. It will never be perfect, but it can be a lot better.
While the author is an artist and not an economist, his ability to identify harmony and beauty in the world allows him to see the relevance that harmony brings to our economic transactions and affairs. To be human is to be in relationship: with God and each other. That begins in our liturgical practices and permeates society, and our day-to-day economic affairs, our work and our culture.
