Culture shock

When one visits or moves to a new country, it is to be expected that there be a certain element of “culture shock”. This is a feeling of amazement of frustration at certain elements ion a culture which are unfamiliar. At first this might take the form of wonderment. “Wow, look at how good they do it here. Why don’t we have something like this?” But it can also be a frustration at the smallest things. “What is with these people? Can’t they even do the simplest things? What are they thinking?”

This still hits us every time we visit. Most often it is in things that simply surprise us. Here are some of the things we have noticed on this trip. 

People will talk about religion. From the moment we entered the US, it has struck us, once again, how normal it is for people to talk about Jesus and their faith. Even though this may a polarizing subject for many, most people here have no problem hearing that we work with the church. In fact, they will mention first where they go to church or that they are praying for someone or something. Even the billboards along the highways are full of religious messages. This hits us as a breath of fresh air. 

Choice is astounding and confounding. There must be 39 different sorts of Oreo cookies these days. We don’t even like Oreo’s. (Or at least Scott doesn’t like them. Shirley loves them.) But so many flavors? And a whole aisle of the grocery store is dedicated to breakfast cereal. This is heaven top Scott until he has to make a choice. And when we go to a coffee place, looking for a good dark roast coffee, we first have to wade through the unending choices of coffee desserts on offer. 

And that brings up the next point: sizing. A “grande” should be large. But this is the smallest size of coffee at Starbucks. And it is in no way small. Every normal home will offer a cup of coffee in a mug, filled to the brim (although the coffee itself is nothing to write home about). At the fast-food places, they simply hand you a cup (a HUGE cup) to fill up yourself. And you can get refills anytime you wish. For the life of me I cannot figure out why anyone would order anything more than a small drink under these circumstances. 

Talking about sizing, the cars on the roads all seem to have received the message that bigger is better. It seems every John, Mary and young teenage Tommy drive super cab pickup trucks that thunder past you on the local neighborhood street or on the highway. And they will pass you on the right on the highway! That is something to get used to very quickly if you want to remain safe while driving. 

Something seemingly mundane for everyone here, but very surprising for us was the expectation that you pass over your pay card to pay for things. Now paying by card is not strange at all for us. As a matter of fact, we were paying by “tapping” in Belgium long before they were in the US. But here, one has to give the store worker one’s card, literally allowing the card to leave one’s hand and often leave one’s sight. This means that you cannot be sure what is being done with your card. This is not something that would be done in Europe. I had to ask a few times at the beginning to make sure that they wanted my card in their hand. In Europe a machine would be extended to the payer who would then “tap” and pay. 

These are just a few of the things we notice when we travel again in the US. We are usually back every three years, so there is plenty of time for things to change slightly and be noticeable. There are always the things like how trash and recycling is different. But often there are newer cultural differences that we find remarkable. What are some things you have noticed when traveling in other countries or even in other States?

Back to "normal"

In the Netherlands, the corona rules have been dropped and all sorts of activities can go back to “normal”. In the congregation in Maastricht we have decided as  congregation to set up our seating differently. 

The last two years we have been seated in a circle around the walls of our meeting room. This gave us the ability to keep some distance from one another and still meet together. In addition to the seating change, we changed how we do the Lord’s Supper and what our worship time together looks like. We even instituted some traditions around how we interact after our worship time. 

Now we as a congregation have decided to “return” to the old way the meeting hall was set up. But almost half of our members actually came to be part of this family during the corona years. This means that - to them - the corona set up was “normal”. And it brings up the question: what is essential and what is normal? 

For the Lord's Supper during corona, each member (or family member) approached the central table where the bread and cup were, took bred and cup and returned to sit and wait until all members had done the same. Then we prayed for the bread and partook together after which we prayed for the cup and partook together. 

Now the table will no longer be central and we will no longer be seated in a a circle facing one another. Now the table will be in the front and we will be seated in a semi-circle. The brother leading the supper will pass the plate and the cup. For many this is a well understood and familiar thing. For many in our congregation, this is new. 

It has always intrigued me to think about and study the bits of our communal worship time that are traditional. What is essential? And how can we do that? During corona years we dropped the sermon and increased the time for the word during the Lord’s Supper. And yet, Jesus remains central to it all. During corona we made a conscious decision to make this time central to our time together. It remains so.

Now things are changing again and we can look at and wonder how to do things together. We are thankful for the changes that have come. We are most thankful that we are a family which can work through these things together with the grace of God. In other parts of the world - Ukraine - other changes are having to be made. We pray for the church there that they, too, can continue to rely on the strength and peace of the Father as they continue to live out and show the love and grace of God, even during very difficult times. 

 

WoW, Willemien and Wonder

This past month has been busy with such a mix of different tasks. That is the reality of what we do here. I seldom know how to respond to the question: So what does a typical week look like? I am not sure I know what a ‘typical’ week is. But whatever we run into, we deal with, while we continue planning ahead.

So this past month we planned for our WoW course. ‘Wijzer op Weg’ or ‘Wiser along the Way’ is a course that I designed to teach people some simple tools to help read the Bible. It is just three evenings with some practical tips. We planned and prepared, got everything set up after having gotten the word out in the local newspaper and through distributing … and no one showed up. That can happen. It is frustrating, I must admit. It was Sean who encouraged us to simply put out some more cards and invite people again. So we will, and we will see what comes of that.

In the meantime, we were dealing almost daily with our dear sister, Willemien. She is 91 and now has a geriatric nurse coming every day to make sure she takes her medicine correctly as she has begun to move slowly into dementia. The only problem is that she can hardly hear, so no one is able to get in the apartment (she doesn’t hear the bell or the telephone). Add to that that she is stubborn and doesn’t always want people in her apartment, and things get interesting.

But I am thankful that we can be there for her. I am reminded of God’s care for us. We think that we are doing well, doing what we should, listening, but we are not always. Have we forgotten His name, His face? I have had some serious, clear talks with Willemien, letting her know that we are there for her, no matter what. I am thankful that God has brought us together to care for one another. What a real blessing that is.

And then I get a call from someone who has received one of the cards for the WoW course. He is interested, but wants to be sure that he will not be wasting my time, since he is a confirmed atheist and there is no way that I would be ‘winning souls’ (as he puts it). I thank him for his candor and let him know that I have no problem as long as he understands that I always desire people to come to Christ, knowing the power of God. We have met together for the first lesson and are planned to meet this coming Monday for the next.

I love seeing how my Father does things. It is definitely not the way that I think things should go, or the way that I plan things, but He is always there with His strength and guidance. That is wonderful (full of wonder)! Have a wonderful day!