A call to conversion

Abstract

By paying attention to other ways of singing—which are already present among us, resisting colonial structures and pointing beyond coloniality—we can construct and embody congregational singing practices as part of a liberating theo-liturgical praxis. The singing of a hotel workers choir, the singing of a dynamic, embodied Latin American song of praise (El Espíritu de Dios), the bilingual, bicultural Christmas celebrations of English and Spanish speaking congregations, and the various moments when communities flip traditional hymnody—all embody a sacramental praxis of liberating singing. In spite of the experience of exclusion due to oppressive social structures, marginalized communities don’t passively accept songs but actively reconfigure them, (re)create them, and turn them into spaces that prophetically announce hope.