THAT'S MY PEW!

Has this ever been you-It's Sunday morning, it's time for the service to begin. You're making your way to the pew that you sit in every Sunday. You happen to look up and see a visiting family looking for somewhere to sit. They glance in the direction where you normally sit. Silently, you tell them not to sit there, that there are other pews to sit in. Or, you quickly slide into your pew, placing your Bible, purse, coat, etc down, knowing that there won't be room for all of you. The family comes closer, you hold your breath. Then they find another place to sit. You are relieved.

Or, how about this-Have you ever visited a church, found a pew and sat down, only to have someone a few minutes later come and stand by you, letting you know in no uncertain terms with their body language that that was "their" pew? Or, gasp! actually TELL you that is "their" pew?

My boys and I usually sit in the same pew every Sunday-the fourth one back on the left hand side, I guess because that is where my husband and I started sitting when we got married and after he became a pastor, I just kept sitting there. This Sunday, something happened to make me realize that I need to work a little bit harder on teaching my two little "gentlemen" some "pew manners".
This was the situation-we had already sat down in the pew. The service had already started. As we were singing the first hymn, a man, his wife and family proceeded to sit in the same pew. Now, please bare in mind, that these pews were only meant to hold six adults comfortably. Since the seating situation got a little bit cramped, and there were other empty pews, I went ahead and moved us to another pew. It did not bother me in the least. My oldest started complaining, however. He didn't like the view. He felt weird sitting in a different place. I drew the line when he said, "We were there first. Why did we have to move?".

First of all, I let my son know that it is not "our" pew, it's GOD'S pew. It is in His house. Besides, I don't see our name written on it anywhere! Secondly, I feel like it was the right thing to do. Yes, I could have let them know that there were other pews open (which I would not do under any circumstance), but, the Bible tells us, "If it be possible, as much lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." Romans 12:18. It was also the POLITE thing to do.

When visitors come to our church, we need to make them feel welcome. How can we show them Christ if we selfishly hold onto something so material and, yes, trivial?
When we are out in public, if an older person, a mother who is obviously pregnant, a disabled person, etc comes into a room or enters the bus or train that we are riding and needs a seat, we (I surely hope!), will rise and give them our seat. Why don't we do this in our churches?

I was very impressed when we visited a church in the mountains while on vacation one year. The church was small and extremely packed with people. They were in the middle of adding on an addition to their building. A man stood up when he saw us enter, immediately recognizing us as visitors. He willingly and gladly gave up where he was sitting so that we could have a seat.

Oh, Christians! Let's not hold onto such trivial things! No matter what we do, we are representing God and our church. We need to let the love of Jesus shine through!

Have a wonderful and blessed day!
Beth :-)