Just Between Us
by Steve Tandy

January 29, 2012

THE PARABLE OF THE PEW

Once upon a time there was a fairly large church. This church had a goodly number of guests each week, and tried lots of ways to make those guests feel welcome. Some of the members served as greeters at the doors, some brought food each week for a guest’s luncheon, and some went out of their way to seek out new faces and introduce themselves. Some served as ushers and helped folks who came a little late find a seat in the crowded auditorium. One day long ago an usher noticed a recurring problem. It seemed that the back pews always filled up pretty quickly. Therefore, folks coming in close to 10:00 or just slightly after 10:00 had to be paraded down front and often forced to climb over someone who was firmly entrenched in their aisle seat. The perspicacious usher reasoned that it wasn’t so bad if a member who was late had to walk down front a ways, but it seemed kind of rude to subject a guest to such treatment. So, he suggested that this guest-friendly church simply chain off a couple of rows toward the back and reserve them for late-arriving visitors. Surely the members would understand and happily find seats elsewhere.

And almost all members did understand and comply. But not everyone. One dear sister, Ms. MeMe Special, thought that the reserved chain applied to everyone but her. After all, she put her five dollars in the plate every week and she ought to be able to sit on any pew she wanted. So, she would push past the ushers, unhook the chain, and plant her imperious self on the visitor’s row. Another dear brother, Mr. Les Thought and his family never gave visitors a consideration. They were running late (as usual) and just needed a seat quickly. So, they joined MeMe on her pew. A few minutes later, as the ushers began to apologetically lead guests past them to find a seat in some of the front sections, they quietly wondered who “those people’ were, and why they hadn’t gotten here in time to get a “good” seat. At 10:02 another brother, Mr. Know Itall, arrived. He listened as the poor bedraggled usher asked him to please take a seat down front, but looked over the options and saw that there were a few open seats left on the “reserved” row. Since he considered himself quite a bit smarter than the average usher, he reasoned that it was already after 10:00, and no more visitors would be coming. After all, he remembered a Sunday just two months ago when not one visitor had come to sit on the row. So, he plopped down between MeMe and Les. At 10:09, a Know Your Bible viewer and her family arrived. It was their first visit to the Church and they had missed the exit on K-96. They were a little embarrassed by being late, but were really embarrassed when the usher explained they would have to walk down the middle aisle and sit behind the teens, since that was the only seating open.

MeMe Special, Les Thought, and Know Itall watched comfortably from their special pew and wondered who those folks were with the red faces. But, it really didn’t matter, because they’d probably never see them again.