I was at breakfast with my son at the local diner in downtown Gaithersburg, Md. Oatmeal for me. Pancakes and bacon for him. He's 14 and I'm 41, so our ages and our meals are both reversed.
A man vaguely resembling Dave Matthews waited for his take-out order sitting on a chair nearby our booth. There was no one at his table, and there were several open tables in the diner. In walks a local, taps the man on the shoulder, and says, “That’s my seat, would you move?”
Gary Long
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The man was slightly startled, but smiled and complied, perching on a nearby chair to wait. My son and I noticed this simultaneously. He leaned close and semi-speaks, semi-whispers, “I thought that only happened in church.”
“I know, right?” I whispered back. We both laughed aloud.
Make all the jokes you want about it from the pulpit, but people are not budging from their perfect place in the pews. All these years as pastor I’ve assumed that only churchgoers were the seat mongers. Turns out I’m wrong; habits and territorialism apply to all humans. It only seems hypocritical when Christians do it. Universally, people are particular about where they sit.
For example, the White House press secretary assigns seats for reporters. Airlines do it. Theatres, symphonies and rock bands, too. Wild Bill Hickok surely regretted his seat choice at the poker table when he was shot in the back. Rumor has it that some synagogues actually sell tickets with preferential seating to their high holy days services. Mobsters sit back-to-the-wall.
Anticipating the Easter Sunday full house, I briefly considered bolstering our ailing church budget by selling preferred seating for this weekend’s service. I even thought through the pricing structure: front row seats would be free, middle seats would go for 20 dollars and the back row seats would be 40. Guaranteed “End of the Row?” Two-dollar surcharge!
That short-winged flight of fancy crashed and burned out pretty quickly. Good Christianity doesn’t work that way. There is comfort to be found in the familiar, and rituals—even seating—has its place. And I certainly don’t want to tangle with Jesus, who said in Luke 11:43, “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the market-places.”
Easter, like any Sunday service, is free to all would come. More important than where we sit on Sundays is where we stand. May we, like those first frightened followers stand at the empty tomb and marvel at what God has done.
Gary Long is pastor of First Baptist Church in Gaithersburg, Md.