Living Language: Everything Has a Culture
Every hymn, prayer, song, idea, sermon, photo, and personal approach in worship has a cultural origin. Nothing is neutral.
For too long, the frequent assumption has been that materials from White, usually British, European, or North American, cultures are the standard or neutral materials. When we list the cultural origin of materials in the United Church, for example, we have only tended to note the “others”: African, Indigenous, Caribbean, Asian, Middle Eastern, and so on. And we tend to treat cultural materials that are White, British, European, or North American as if they’re just the norm!
Yet, nothing is neutral. Each of our particular cultural backgrounds influences and shapes how we write, speak, draw, act, and engage with worship. There is no standard, neutral, or superior “culture.” That’s why on the GatheringWorship.ca website, we are committed to identifying the culture of each and every piece we publish.
What is a culture? It is the collective customs, arts, attitudes, language, behaviours, manners, rituals, traditions, religion, foods, clothing, and social institutions of a particular nation, people, or social group passed down from generation to generation as a code for living.
Take a moment to name and clarify your own cultural background and context. Are you Indigenous, African, Asian, European, North American, Central American, South American, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, Australian-Pacific Oceanian, or a mix? What is your specific context within those broad groups? Where are your roots? What culture enlivens who you are as a person?
It is not only the country and culture but also the landscape we live in that defines who we are. Are you rooted in the prairies, tundra, desert, hills, valleys, or mountains or shaped by a river, an ocean, or a large body of water? Are you formed by urban life or suburban life, or by life in a rural area or in wilderness?
Our cultural context informs the worship materials we write. We can create powerful prayers, hymns, and images when we are aware of the culture and landscape out of which we are writing. When we understand how that culture and landscape defines us, we can develop the strengths and avoid the pitfalls of writing from our own culture. We also become aware of—and avoid—the moments when we are attempting to write and create within someone else’s culture.
When you are leading worship, I invite you to take time to name the cultural context of every hymn you share and to name your own cultural context, which roots and grounds what you have created. This is one part of the journey of becoming an anti-racist church andof avoiding cultural misappropriation.
