Contradictions

This week has been one of contemplation and reflection on a major question; What are you living for? This question has been one that has haunted me all week as I have observed life here in Finland and it has led me to discover a number of what I refer to as contradictions of life as seen from my perspective. Let me first of  all explain that my impression of Finnish culture is that it is very reserved and people rarely display emotions of any kind. There are not many displays of joy, sorrow, disappointment, frustration or anything. People are generally quiet and polite as opposed to loud mouthed Americans like myself. In fact from the coaching side that has been one of my greatest struggles is to get our players with the Butchers to communicate and make calls on defense. I ask them to call out strength calls, pass routes, ball calls and other common calls that will help us become a more coherent unit and I have to constantly implore them to be loud. I have communicated that I know it is against their base instincts but that they are playing an American game and so they have to be a bit more like Americans, loud and obnoxious when playing this crazy sport.

These reserved Finns however come out of their shells with alcohol on the weekends and it is a radical transformation. People of few words suddenly will spill their guts out to you and talk incessantly. After our victory last Friday night against Lappeenranta 31-21, I went out with some of our players to Wilhelm, a riverfront cafe and bar and met some locals who recognized me from the newspaper. I had a great time talking with them and getting their impressions of the Butchers, Finland, the United States and many other topics. Later we moved to a club called Amarillo where more of our players were at. As usual at clubs like this the venue was loud, people were drinking heavily and Finns suddenly became gregarious. This contradictory personality shift is a common theme that we Americans have discussed often. While the evening was enjoyable in one sense it was also a disconcerting time. Since my ride home left me at some point, I walked home and had an opportunity to reflect upon the emptiness of the bar scene that I left.
A few days later I ate at Seireeni, a very nice restaurant that sponsors us and where we get a meal every day during the week. Since I am there almost every day I have begun to get to know the wait staff a bit and I asked one of them, who I knew had the weekend off,  "how was your weekend?"
She replied "great!"
My curiosity was aroused by this very positive response so I asked "what made it so great?" to which she answered "lots of drinking!"
Once again I was struck by this perspective that life is about making it to the weekend and then getting as drunk as possible. This seems so empty, not to mention expensive as a beer at a pub costs about 5 Euros or $7. So I began to reflect on what is there that people live for here. This reflection really hit home when our junior team was impacted by the death of one of their friends and a former player on the team. The young man had disappeared about a month ago after disturbing phone calls to friends and family which were cries for help. His body was discovered this week in the Porvoo river. He had apparently become disenchanted with life and committed suicide. He had found no reason to continue living.  I realize that this same situation exists around the world and is common as well in the U.S. but it seems more acute here as we in the U.S. will often fulfill our lives through our work or careers whereas work here is a means to provide a lifestyle. In the U.S. we also have many more people searching for meaning to life whereas here in Europe secularization is so deeply rooted that that question is not even considered anymore. Life just is, it is as if the question is a moot one here because life is about existing as comfortably as possible and meaning is irrelevant.

From a faith perspective this brings up another strong contradiction that I have observed here and that is the role of the church. In Finland 92% of people are Lutheran and belong to the church. While this may sound like an impressive figure it is a pure statistical anomaly. As I have been told repeatedly, people are members of the church but do not attend. I responded to one friend who told me this by saying "oh, I get it so they go twice a year, Christmas and Easter, we have many people at home who do that as well." He laughed and said "not quite, they go maybe two or three times in their lifetime."
The purpose of joining the church in Finland is so that your children can be Christened and you can get married and buried in the church. In fact if you are a member of a church in Finland you pay taxes to belong. Part of your income is taxed and given to the church. Not exactly a marketing tool that would go over well in the U.S. for church growth. I have gone to an International church in Helsinki and one of the pastors of this congregation of about 30-40 people told me that during the war years here people's faith really blossomed as they called out to God for help and he answered. However as the affluence of the country continued to grow, people didn't seem to see a need for God and began to take credit for the blessings in the country.  As a result, he felt that people have forgotten the God who rescued them and answered their prayers when they were oppressed. He was saddened by this as he has lived through the changes and yet he is hopeful that God could still reach his people in someway.

This contradiction of a Lutheran church supported by the Finnish government where people belong but don't attend as religion is a private affair is startling. Especially since Luther's reforms were in part about allowing people to reconnect to the church in a more organic way and establish a community of believers rather than a bureaucratic organization. There are beautiful cathedrals here that people take pictures of and worship the architecture while they are almost empty of true worshipers inside.
Another major contradiction that amazes me is with our players who work so hard to train and play football at the highest levels in Europe but then continue to smoke. This is 2010 and I am constantly amazed that people who are concerned with their health and fitness will continue to smoke after working that hard when they know that the action will cause harm to themselves and those around them. It's not just our players either it is all kinds of people who come off the practice field after playing field hockey, soccer, or bandy and then light up. I have to admit that our players don't do that. But I hope that they will come to the realization that it is not enhancing their performance.
All of this pondering has also caused me to look at the contradictions of my life as well as I am acutely aware of my many shortcomings and  inconsistencies. Sometimes it is when we get out of our comfort zones that we can see more clearly our own idiosyncrasies and failings. My hope is that I can begin to answer the question "what am I living for?" more clearly.  Jesus stated that  he came to bring life abundantly and it is my hope that my life will reflect that abundance and that I can experience his fulfillment. I see these contradictions not in a condemning spirit as I recognize my own need for a contrite heart. As George Buttrick wrote,

"contrition is not easy work: it is surgery, it is not an end in itself: the wise prayer of confession always leads to an acceptance of God's pardon . . .God does not wish us to remember, except as a reminder of our dependence, for he is willing to forget anything." From Devotional Classics. pp101-102.

This week I look forward to seeing beyond contradictions and  to bring hope to friends who could use it as one blind beggar telling another where to get food. I also look forward to our game against the Jyvaskyla Jaguars as it poses another contradiction: a renewed Northwest Conference rivalry here in Finland as they have three players from Willamette University on their team. So here's to an old Whitworth Pirate overcoming some former Bearcats in Finland, who would have imagined?