Cross-eyed

In The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business, author Erin Meyer parses out eight cultural differences to help understand and navigate the international business world. One axis was presented for each of the eight differences to show the variant range of the global cultures and their impact on multicultural work settings.

One of the eight areas is on scheduling and the sense of time. There are some cultures that hold time to be linear. They are very intentional in their relation to time. Appointments, schedules, deadlines, and sequences are kept. Emphasis is on promptness, organization, and preparation, while tardiness is a cultural sin.

On the other hand, there are also some cultures that have a flexible concept of time. Emphasis is placed on fluidity, dynamicity, and adaptability to arising opportunities. Multitasking is encouraged, and interruptions to plans are tolerable. Illogical rigidity is their cultural sin. One culture holds preparation as its highest value, while the other holds flexibility as its highest. One places relationships, nuances, social graces, and interpersonal protocol as secondary, expensed for the sake of timeliness. The other places order, goals, arrangements, and accuracy as secondary, disposable for human interaction.

You can imagine the working relationship between individuals from these opposing cultural values. One culture would be criticized as lazy or disheveled. The other culture would be deemed cold and mechanical.

Adding to this complexity, each culture has versions of these ranges within themselves. Developed regions and urban concentrations may highlight productivity, results, efficiency, analysis, and diligence, while developing regions of rural persuasions may underscore connections, loyalty, rapport, and conduct.

What should the culture of the Advent movement be? 

Adventists should rise above cultural limitations, seeing as we are called to honor both aspects. Students of Christ’s prophecies are called to timeliness, as our prophetic heritage begs us to be prepared, urgent, watching, waiting, mindful of the times, and productively diligent while waiting. At the same time, students of Christ’s ministry are just as much called to kindness, patience, and character, understanding the value that Christ places on fellow souls when we, at the foot of the cross, see Him crucified for humanity.

We see this in Christ’s injunction to us: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He calls for His priorities first, assuming that we are mindful of time, order, and value. But He also calls for His kingdom, made up of souls, and His righteousness, or God’s character of justice, holiness, and love. Regardless of our earthly cultures, may our two eyes be on this heavenly kingdom, one eye on being urgently timely and one eye on being loving like Christ.