Do you own your chair in church?

Just back from the church setting out the chairs for tomorrow, which we do each Saturday, and holding the thoughts God gave me whilst arranging the seating.

Dave our pastor likes them in precise positions, a flashback to his Scandinavian ancestry and penchant for order!

So with Gods sense of humour He gives me, the most disorderly member of the body, the task of bringing strict order to our Sunday service chairs!

Anyhow, whilst doing this I reflected that I could just as easily put name tags on most of them, for the same positions are taken each week by the same people, and only the visitors seem to vary where they sit, and even then I could put name tags for them.

So what tags would I have....?

Well in the front row I'd put down Mr and Mrs Leader, who came to us after many years of service in dead Anglican churches in the UK, and at first tried to install order into our body, but over the years have relaxed enought to roll gently with the ebb and flow of the church.

Behind them, probably in an unplanned respect for the Leaders position, sit Mr and Mrs ExCatholic Leader, a great couple who came to us from their Catholic background to see what their little sister had got involved with, and stayed, bringing in the rest of their family.

They live ordered lives also (must be the leadership) but are also very flexible, and hear very clearly from the Lord, mainly because they listen more than they speak.

Over to the right sits 'Martha', not her real name but a good indicative, for she like Martha spends more time serving others than she does sitting at the Lords feet and receiving.

Beside her sits our blind prophetess, who now sees more than the rest of us; since she lost her sight.

George sits behind her, and watches, he watches because he is mainly deaf, and like may deaf folk dislikes his hearing aids. However living with silence makes one very introspective, and George is there in the kitchen of the coffee shop most days, washing up, which is an insular activity. He's our oldest member at 86 years young.

Each chair tells a story, and each story has a different walk with God, and each walk guides people with their own tasks to perform.

It would be a delight if one Sunday I arrived and the same people were in differing chairs, but then again maybe those chairs are where God put them in any case, and their task is to stay where they are best positioned to serve God.

I have in prior times made everyone chose a different chair, first thing in the service on Sunday, one they had not sat in before, and with somebody next to them they had never sat beside, but that was when I was busy trying to shake them out of their conformity....into my conformity, but we have all aged since then, and I realise that where they sit is not important, what is important is that wherever they sit they can expect to see the power of God in our services and to hear the word of God clearly and without prevarication.

We never know where or when God will require us to do 'our bit' for the kingdom, and it is a random thing. It may be that we get used to bring Gods word to others more than most, but normally that's because we hang out looking to be used.

If you walk the streets looking for red cars, you will see more than those who travel on the train, obviously.

But wherever God places you there is someone to be reached, and God will place us where we can be most effective, be that on the train or street.