quicko: sitting down and standing up

I find this an unusual post to follow the one just prior, but perhaps that's merely a mark of my American-ness; this one is all about church. In American churches, we sing about the first three songs standing up and then sit down for the rest until the final song of the service (after which time we stay standing up and then exit the sanctuary). In Australian churches, you almost always stand up throughout any song that is sung. Furthermore, there's substantially less (at least at my church) "special" music (i.e., solos, choir singing, violin concertos, etc.) than in American churches. And after the final song, everyone sits down again and waits a beat or two until it's time to stand back up.