Cultural Differences

Again, not a lot of time to write, but a couple more cultural differences between the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic that have been rather noticeable to me in recent days.

First, weather (beyond the plowing rant). Whenever the first "big" snowfall comes (which around here means 3-4"), the news shows a montage of people buying out the store in terms of shovels, snowblowers, etc. I realize such items break down, get lost, or just need to be replaced every so often, but the way in which the news portrays it kind of gives one the impression that folks in central PA just throw their shovels away every May, and then December comes around and they're like "Crap, now we need a shovel again! To the store - quick, before they sell out!"

As an addendum to this - anytime we're due for significant snowfall, the news also shows people buying out the grocery store, expecting to be snowed in for several days. But the thing is, a couple significant snowfalls could happen just a few days apart, and the news will show the same thing - people once again making a run to stock up on groceries, begging the question: What did they do with all the food they bought a few days ago? Again, kind of leaves one with the impression that they either wolfed it down in a few days or threw it out once they realized they wouldn't be homebound all week.

The other observation has to do with singing. I'd realized long ago that this is not a culture that values or practices singing in the way the upper Midwest does. Midwestern Lutherans love singing, and especially love singing in harmony, which is why Garrison Keillor can start a familiar hymn on PHC and by the end of the first verse you'll hear the audience singing in four parts. For sure when you go to a gathering of pastors or a synod assembly, you can count on richly harmonized congregational singing, and even in many regular churches, you will find a number of folks belting out soprano, alto, tenor, and bass lines in the pews.

That's just not the tradition here, even in places where one might reasonably expect it - and this point has been driven home repeatedly over this recent holiday season. First, I went to an advent vespers service at a local college, a service that included lots of congregational singing, and realized no one was singing harmony other than myself and the person who had invited me. Even the choir at this service was most often singing in unison!

Then at our ministerium luncheon, my colleagues were discussing the Bucknell candlelight service, which I have never been to, but from what I gathered, is shorter in duration and has more readings and less choral singing than the St. Olaf Christmas Festival. Someone asked the Bucknell chaplain if the students get class credit for participating because it is "such a big undertaking" (the presumption being you'd have to be crazy to do this for nothing) and were relieved to find out yes, in fact, they do get credit.

I kept my mouth shut during this whole exchange, but was rather flabbergasted because, well, pretty much every Lutheran college in the upper Midwest has a choral Advent or Christmas Festival of some sort, and they are labors of love. Being in choir is an extra-curricular activity, and students put in many hours of extra rehearsal (including returning to school early from Thanksgiving break to get in more practice as a mass choir) for the sheer joy and honor of being part of these gorgeous services that inevitably blur the distinction between the earthly and the divine.

So the idea that someone would only reasonably be expected to participate in this if they got something as base as a little bit of class credit in return just seemed preposterous and completely foreign to me, and once again underscored this difference in cultures and our respective attitudes about worship and singing.

So, that's the latest report from the fish out of water files.

Happy Epiphany!
C.