What are you doing here?

(I preached this sermon yesterday, August 9, 2020 in response to the 1 Kings 9:9–18 and Matthew 14:22–33. You can see the entire service at our church website — www.ststephenlc.org.)

I got to know Salla during my second year of Seminary. She was an exchange student from Finland taking a year to study in the US at Gettysburg Seminary. She was my opportunity to get to know Finnish culture, some language, and ideas, and I provided her with insight into American culture, language, and ideas.

I remember one exchange early on in her stay here. She said, “why do Americans ask how you are doing, but then don’t actually listen to the answer. I don’t understand.” I laughed a bit at this and then explained to Salla that this is a common American greeting. It’s not really an inquiry into how the other person is doing. It just flows with “hello.” I explained to her that in fact, most people aren’t looking for a real answer. They want to and expect to hear something like, “I’m fine thanks, how are you?” Or “I’m great, thanks, how about you?” Something rehearsed. I explained to her that under most circumstances, it would be rather awkward for Americans to truly express how they are doing. If you really want to know how someone is really doing, you’ll need to press them a bit.

Salla had a confused look on her face. “That’s weird,” she said. “In Finland we just great each other with a hello. If we want to know how someone is, it better be someone we know, and we better be prepared for a real answer. So, we usually don’t ask.”