I found this cartoon from England to be quite funny. There is a perpetual joke in both Greek and Antiochian circles about Greek time or Arab time. I have not heard quite as much of it among the OCA folk, but it is there as well. Before anyone comments anything, NO NO NO do not make lists of the people who fit into each category. But, I did find that the categories above are quite descriptive. But, it did lead me to a couple of thoughts.
First, be aware that being not simply on time but slightly early is a particularly Anglo-Saxon/Germanic cultural viewpoint. Let’s face it, the “just-in-time” person is just that, “in time.” That person is not late, though we can come up with many cultural rationalizations as to why a person should be there earlier than the start time. I call them cultural because my wife and I lived in South America for 10 years. We can verify that in those cultures, if you show up to a party five minutes earlier than the assigned time, you are likely to catch the host and hostess still getting dressed.
That is, in South America it is commonly understood that if you are invited to a party, you are not expected to show up on time, and you are most definitely not supposed to show up early. Interestingly enough, church will always start on time. But, it is very common to begin with an empty looking church yet finish with a full one. Nevertheless, people do need some guidance. I am convinced that this is how the rule came about in those countries that one must be there before the reading of the Gospel in order to be considered to have attended Mass.
In this culture being on time is such a high cultural value that it is considered sinful in this culture to arrive late to church, even if you are just slightly late. The problem is that there are no clear Scriptures that speak directly to how early one must arrive in order to be “properly” at church. Neither are there clear conciliar pronouncements. Is there an expectation that one be present for the full service? Yes there is. But, are there actual rules that clearly define arrival time? Well, no. That is why there was such a thing as Greek time and Antiochian time and Latino time. Arriving even a few minutes after the official start time of the service is not considered sinful in those cultures. It is only when it goes overboard that it is considered sinful, and that is how the Gospel rule got started in the Roman Catholic Church.
So, we need to be cautious how we address the issue of time. Though it is appropriate in this culture to insist that people must be present at the start, let us be careful not to phrase this as though arriving five minutes early were God’s direct request. Let us not word our pastoral directions for this culture as though they were for all times and all places. For instance, I know that in some Communist countries (before the fall of the Berlin Wall) people would deliberately arrive at different time in order to evade the watchful eye of the local authorities. That was their local pastoral direction in their cultural circumstances. So, be cautious in your speech and thoughts about the issue of time.
I realize there are cultural differences of opinion on punctuality. But just as most people generally have enough money to buy the things they _really_ want to have, so I believe most people have the wherewithal to be on time for an event they _really_ want to attend.
During missions training, one of the points brought up was this issue of when you are on time. What you said is absolutely true. However, what is considered being on time varies from culture to culture. That was what was hard to learn. It was even harder to learn that in Latin American countries, being on time varied both by class and by class inter-relationships. But, in every class, being on time was at least several minutes later than what is considered being on time in the USA or England or Germany. That is the point I was commenting about.
I can remember one of our mission professors trying to get us to remember that in Latin America being on time means never being there earlier than the set time and mostly several minutes after the set time. So, for a citizen of the USA, being on time means actually being present a couple of minutes before the time set. But for a Latin American, the time set is the earliest possible time to be there. It was a hard concept to pick up.
So, if you look at the cartoon above, it reflects a very English/USA/German viewpoint. Notice that those who arrive just before church starts are considered, with a sniff, to be just in time. The assumption is that such is not proper behavior. In Latin America, one who arrives before church starts, even if it is only 30 seconds before is there amply on time. Do you see what I mean?
Forgive me for commenting so long after the original post and comments, but Judy, I know from experience that your statement is not always true. I spent my childhood and high school years in Africa and although my sense of what is ‘on time’ has shifted somewhat since moving to the USA I still have trouble being on time when I’m not headed to something work-related. It has nothing to do with valuing the person or Person I’m headed to spend time with, it really is a different sense of time. So often our cultural values and views can feel so definitive and right, but in the end they often boil down to mere custom, and in this case equating someone else’s sense of timeliness with a failure to care is uncharitable.
Hi Father, Our church is one of the ones that start with an empty church and by the end of Liturgy it is filled! Val
My family used to be lay ministers at the Catholic masses held on Disney property. Attendees were frequently arriving well after the starting time, mostly because they underestimated how much travel time it would take to get to where we had services. We always joked that it counted as long as they made it in time for the collection.
The late part seems to be a CUBAN culture, although there are few of us that like to be there early.