Questioning of Culture

Culture is one of those often used, rarely specifically defined concepts. It seems it can be used as a catch-all term that encompasses more than anyone really can keep track of. I personally find culture to be very interesting; I love learning about how different people form different groups and decide to live in a particular way. However, there's something that I've noticed about how we explain and notice our own culture and the cultures of others; it's mostly defined by differences.


I am, like many North Americans, a European cocktail, all sorts of different family lines intertwine and ethnic groupings are in there somewhere and I'm not exactly sure what 'I am'. My culture seems to follow along the same hazy lines; there's a little bit of Welsh inspired cuisine at my grandparent's holiday feasts, and my family has an affinity for out Italian heritage, but all in all the cultural backdrop that I've grown up in seems to me to be normal by virtue of experience and by virtue of it not digressing much from everyone else. This is what I've found to be particularly thought-provoking over the past few days; we tend to recognize our culture by what is different from someone else's, it is not a concept that is commonly defined in and of itself. In my experience this has played out by realizing things that are different, and being able to connect them to a culture. I recognized that the Welsh food being served at my grandparents' table was unique and special, and as such, a cultural creation; this recognition was birthed through the comparison of it not being present at the other grandparents' table. Outside of comparison and recognition of difference, I would not have realized that ever-so-loved Yorkshire pudding, and not-so-loved fruitcake were something that was tied to a culture because to me it seemed normal. It was something that was always present in my experience of holiday dinners and we don't tend to notice something as different when it's a frequent occurrence in the history of our lives.


All this thought about culture and how we come to define and categorize it based mostly on a recognition of differences has lead me to think about God's call on our lives to live counter-culturally.  There is a very specific call on our lives to live differently; to be light and salt in the world (Matthew 5:13-16). "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." (Romans 12:2).


I question if I live differently enough for it to be recognized that I am from a different culture. I wonder if I actually look, act and think in a way that diverges from normal to such an extent that others realize that there is something unfamiliar and unknown about me.