The Pew.

Have you ever gone into a business or an event where there were no visible parking spots marked?  And, if you happen to be the only person there, you have no idea where to park.  So, you just park wherever, making a spot of your own choosing.  I’ve also had the experience of being that only person in the lot, and then going to leave and realizing that others have now showed up and started following the parking pattern that I haphazardly created, right or wrong, now, others were following my lead.

Living in a rural area, this is more common than you might think.

We are people who like a little direction, are we not?  We appreciate driving into a parking area and knowing exactly what our options are.  And, if you’re like me, you are not too proud to loop around the lot a couple times waiting for the closest spot possible, especially on a rainy or cold day. 

We do this all the time without realizing it.  We want to do the right thing and we seek direction and guidance, and in places much more significant than a parking space.  And when there is none, we find ourselves either forced to figure it out on our own, or we follow the leader and do what others have done, not really knowing if its right or wrong.  We want to be led.

I recently watched The American President, such a good movie from back in the 90’s.  Michael J. Fox played Lewis Rothchild, part of the president’s staff, and I love the line where he is begging the president to step up and lead.  He says,  “People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.”

Our church has a beautiful sanctuary hemmed in by stained glass windows.  At certain times of the day, when the sun is at just the right spots, the light coming through is stunning.  Recently, I was fortunate to be there at one of those moments and took a picture of the area I usually sit.

Pews.

Maybe a little like parking spots.

When you walk in, there’s no confusion as to where you are supposed to “park”.  The pews are there to guide you to a spot that exists to lead you to a much greater, more supernatural space.  A space of worship and acceptance and intimacy and community and relationship with God.

We are living in a world where there are countless spaces of aimless wandering with no clear direction, and even more spaces of faulty leadership.  But, we do it, we drink the sand because we are desperate to belong, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, to feel like we’re doing the thing, whatever that thing is, that everyone else is doing, because we just don’t know where to turn, or park ourselves, when it’s up to us.

The church. It is not a perfect place, even the best leaders are in fact, only human and falter despite best intentions.  If fact, we know that the church has sadly been a place of hurt and power grabs and greed more often than it ever should have been.

But…

The church is, in its intended purpose, a space where we can join with other broken souls and encounter God.  We can walk into a sanctuary, and I will full stop there and say that it is no easy task if you are doing it for the first time; but we can enter into a space where the leader, and no I’m not even talking about the pastor, is God.  And he is perfect. 

The Creator of the universe is so mysterious and powerful, but at the same exact time meets you right where you are and knows the number of hairs on your head.  Jesus Christ is the Way, the place to turn and the direction to go.  You can feel safe in the knowledge that following Him is the only path that is steadfast and true, and that he is faithful and keeps his promises.  We will still get lost from time to time and veer off track, but when we find it again, it’s the same, and Jesus is the same, today and yesterday and tomorrow.

The pew, that parking space for people, is a good place to begin.  It can serve as the beginning of finding your place in this world.  I won’t romanticize it.  Church going can be awkward, it can feel heavy, the people around you are different, or maybe similar, there are lots of unknowns and unexpecteds.  But what if all the God talk and Jesus stories and heaven and hell and the Bible are TRUE?  Even if you’re not quite sure about it all, even if you doubt, it’s totally ok with Jesus.  I know cause I’ve been there, and he loves me anyway, and he’ll love you too.

So if your car veers into a church on a Sunday morning and you find yourself parked in a pew, you are not seeing sand, it’s real Living Water and it will quench every thirst you’ve ever had, so just keep on drinking. 

Love to you all,

Dawn

John Chapter 1