Whose Seat Are You In?
“Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverance the race set before us, looking to Jesus.”
FACES & SEATS: In July, after a seven-year sojourn, I had the get-to gift of returning to Canterbury UMC, where we hung out for twelve years (2003-2015). It’s cool to see the 2022 versions of so many faces – children to youth, youth to adults, and you/we adults with more ‘seasoned’ faces.
Things have moved forward so well in recent years – vibrant worship, terrific faith/life formation experiences for all ages and stages, and an amazing buffet of generously supported missional hands on and hearts on people-caring service.
An array of new faces is there. I hear a now-version of a familiar sentence I recall from before. “It is so great to have so many new people; it is a challenge to get to know them all!”
And… there’s the tender experience of missing beloved faces who have completed their earthly lives – some I knew about and others I only recently discovered. Deep breath.
So, it is a bittersweet blessing and joy to cast my eye over those I get to see sitting in worship. Yep, there they are…and them too… sitting in their seats. And wow, new folks in the places they have found to sit. And yet, sigh, that’s where she, he, they used to sit. Don’t get me to naming names.
ALL SAINTS STADIUM SEATS: Hebrews 12 depicts those who faithfully completed the race of their earth lives in the seats of a great heavenly athletic stadium – praying, pulling, cheering for us as we run, bumble, stumble the relay race of our lives. The Bible knows that athletic stadiums are ‘sanctuaries’ of sorts for many people. Smile.
The Apostles’ Creed calls heavenly stadium people the Communion of Saints (community). Note: Biblical saints are not perfect people who never sweat, swear, or goof up. Saints are imperfect people through whom we experience a bit of God’s, Jesus’ love.
In their time, those saintly scoundrels and scandalous saints put up with us when we were un-put-up-with-able. By the mystery of the Communion of Saints, even now we experience the presence and encouragement of those we love who are with God. It takes time for us to have enough life mileage to appreciate the struggles they faced and the prices they paid to love us.
This Sunday is All Saints Day at Canterbury as well as countless churches from around here, to around the world. The names of those members/saints whose earthly life ended over the last year will be read, candles lit, bells rung, and hearts tremble.
SHOWING UP AT CHURCH: With all the church’s warts, scars, and scant sprinkling of beauty marks, why do people drag in and find their seats week- in-and-out? And now some even persist by tuning in through the grace of online worship – replete with really good seats, coffee and fuzzy-bunny bedroom shoes.
Here’s the deal. No one can live our lives for us, but not a one of us can have a life worth living or dying for without one another’s help. That among other reasons is why we shuffle in/show up in worship together.
Anne Lamott, in her ALMOST EVERYTHING: NOTES ON HOPE: “What helps is we are not all crazy and hopeless on the same day. One of us reminds the rest of us when it is really dark you can see the stars. We believe grace is stronger than evil and sin. We believe love is stronger than hate, that the divine is bigger than all the human ego bloviation. That makes us laugh. And laughter is hope. We believe and hope that we will get through these terrifying times.” (Lordy, I pray so to that last line!)
So, more than a faith destination, we show up together for a faith foundation:
+ To build lives of intelligent faith and compassionate service to others;
+ To form durable, resilient Jesus followers who are not intimidated by fundamentalists, religious or secular types.
+ To participate in serious not surface Bible study, tutoring, food ministries, confirmation, small groups, and more galore.
YOUR LIFE SEASON TICKET SEATS: We get to sit in the seats of those who came before us, seats of those who will come after us. These are our life season seats.
It is our time to carry the baton from here to heaven. God’s baton is to go forward, never back…never back. What brought us this far are those who decided in their time to try something new, to care more for more people than before.
In his JAYBER CROWE, Wendell Berry’s character Jayber lives in the small town of Port William KY. For 40 years, he was the local barber and church custodian.
"One day, there to work, sleepiness overcame me. I lay down behind the back pew to take a nap. Waking or sleeping, I couldn’t tell. I saw all the people who had ever been there in their own time.
"I saw them from the back pew with Uncle Othy who would not come any farther, while Aunt Cordie sang in the choir…The cheerfully working and singing women…the men quiet, reluctant, shy. The weary…the troubled in spirit…the sick…the desperate…those grieving their dead.
"The children tucked into the pews beside their elders, the young married couples full of visions, the old men with their dreams.
"The proud, the humble – I saw them all. They were just there. They said nothing; I said nothing. I loved them all because it included me… When I came to myself, my face was wet with tears."
This Sunday at Canterbury, some twenty-nine names will be called. I am so blessed to get to read those names along with our senior pastor Keith. I can see the faces of most all of them, hear their voices, recall their good and tough times, recall where many sat and what services they were in.
So again, in whose seat are you now blessed to sit? In the future, who will be blessed to sit in what were your life season seats? So now, gladly move down the row and let newcomers know they are in the right seat!