"SEAT PLAN"
Sunday's lection resonates with our experiences around the dinner table (which, in many cases, is not really round). We know who sits where. In many homes we know who sits at the head and at the foot of the table. And this seating arrangement applies in many of our social gatherings and in our churches as well.
When I was younger I assumed that the name plates on church pews were in honor of the donors. I soon realized--after being told to move--that those name plates also identified who had exclusive rights to those pews.
People have always asked why I always stand or sit at the back (or near the back) in churches, especially the big ones. Now you know.
Years ago, I visited a church where I felt totally unwelcomed. I did not wear the required three-piece suit for men. I also had the wrong skin color.
These assigned spaces also apply to burials. There are those who are buried in the church's yard. There are those who are buried inside the sanctuary, along the center aisle, and in the altar. Of course, "heathens" and "pagans" cannot be buried on church grounds.
Friends, let us never forget that the early church was known for its open table, its radical hospitality, and its proclamation of good news to the poor. There were no seat plans.
The church is not a building. The church is not an exclusive club. The church, the one Jesus challenges to be light, salt, and seed, is people who love. Unconditionally.
*art, "The Poor Invited to the Feast," JESUS MAFA, 1973 (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives)
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