Some things are hard to give away.
No one ever sat in my father's chair in the living room. It was at the end of the couch, really, but his chair all the same. You might sit there inadvertently, if he wasn't there and you were a guest and you didn't know the rules of the house. But he'd enter the room and look so confused that you couldn't help but move so he could sit in his place. He'd sit down on top of anything else that might be lying there - a pile of newspapers, a coat, perhaps your lap - and then you'd have to pull it out from underneath him. He was a decent man, my father, but as he aged his world grew smaller and smaller, finally to the size of his seat on the couch.
I think our favorite seat might be the most difficult thing of all to give away. Whether it is our seat on the bus or that lazyboy in the living room, it's hard to make ourselves stand and let another take our place, difficult to resist the temptation to ask someone to move so that we can sit in our favorite spot. We are creatures of habit, I suppose, or we grow accustomed to a particular view, or the seat seems to shape itself to a perfect fit around our tailbone.
I wonder if that's why it's so difficult for us to invite folks to visit Good Shepherd - if we've just grown too accustomed to our seats, if deep down we know that as we grow the seats will fill up and we might have to sit somewhere new. Certainly that's a normal reaction to change, but if we hold on to that reaction our world and our family and our church begin to grow cold and small. Healthy families give away their seats. It might be your daughter's date for the prom or a visit from your new son-in-law or an unexpected guest at a progressive dinner, but healthy families invite new sheep into the fold, and when they come you make room for them.
For the sake of Christ, we're going to help you practice giving away your seat. There are two Oktoberfest brochures in this newsletter: one is an invitation for you, the other is for you to invite someone else. Some of us break out in a cold sweat at the prospect of inviting someone new to dinner; for some it's as natural as breathing. Remember now, it's just for practice. Let's see if we can learn to place our trust in God to hold us up, instead of only trusting our favorite seat.
Pastor Jim
When he marked how they chose to sit in the places of honor, he said, "When you are invited to a banquet...go and sit in the lowest place. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 14:7-11
From the Shepherd's Song Newsletter -- September 2006
Copyright 2006 by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
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E-mail your comments and questions to Pastor Jim in care of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at gslc@sirus.com.