REFLECTIONS FROM THE REARVIEW
  • Home
  • Hello and Welcome
  • Blog
  • Random Gatherings
  • My Book
  • FAQ

Blessed are the Pew Warmers

1/28/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
I like to look around during the prayers. You get a chance to take it all in while everyone else has their eyes closed. Who is here? Up ahead of me is a little old lady, the mother of a good friend of ours. She is faithfully here every week for the 9 am service, plump, made up with powder and lipstick, and a little white bob of hair peeking out over the pew. She is sitting beside the other usual suspect, another old lady from the same elder care complex. That one is of the “pistol-in-her-purse” variety. If you cough behind her, she will turn around and glare, while white-knuckling her cane like she is itching to hit you. She is going to visit her 90 year old mom after the service, and she is a germaphobe for that reason. This is also part of her routine, warming up the same pew week after week on a Sunday morning. 

A lot of people get called out for that, the pew warmers. Some of them come to church only on Christmas and Easter so you call them C&E Christians. They are not as faithful as those little old ladies. 

You can’t underestimate the oldsters. They pack a lot away a lot of unknowns in a small package. The little old lady who is mother to our friend did a very good job it seems. Her son is a very nice guy and he and his wife do a lot of unsolicited favours for those around them who need a hand in one way or another. They make themselves busy with others, despite their own family life. You can never underestimate what good a little old lady might do in the world, simply by having reared up great children. 

My mom added an interesting wrinkle to this argument. She had been a teacher, and at a certain point she wanted to re-enter the workforce despite a twenty year stretch being very busy with children and running a household. The somewhat glib interviewer pointed out the gap in her resume and her lack of current experience because of it. My mom handed that man back a piece of her mind, and asked him how he would manage the multi tasking skills that a mother is called on to put to use every single day. It is managing in ways that are often under appreciated. She of course, got the job. He didn’t know how to answer when interviewed back. 

There is also the little old lady that Jesus defended. The Scribes and the Pharisees laughed at her when the collection plate came around. She didn’t have much to contribute. The Pharisees and Scribes got on very well in their own eyes, and they thought pretty highly of their own contributions. They liked to put on a good show in front of the people, flashing the fifties and hundreds when that collection plate came around. Jesus said, not so fast. You guys give only a little out of your abundance, that little old lady you are laughing at, is giving everything extra she has to live on, as her part. Never underestimate little old ladies. 

The old lady in church, we have been seeing her in that spot warming that particular pew for a long time. It is her sole contribution it would seem, a pew warmer. And yet, it is just that, her contribution, not to be diminished especially if you want to factor in faithfulness. 

We laugh at pew warmers and are admonished not to be like them. Sermons are based on the idea. Don’t be a pew warmer. Often the churches leave you loaded up with exhortations. Do this, don’t do that. Join this committee or give to this program, volunteer. Don’t just warm a pew. They burden you up with many heavy expectations and they also underestimate the pew warmers. 

For anyone with a family, you will get a picture of who is a contributor and who is a non contributor. Put in frank terms, your kids are living free off the fat of the land for a long time, while contributing little. They are non contributors. They are the pew-warmers of family life. Go to any mother and suggest to her that her child has little worth, and see what reaction you get. Pray that she won’t have an umbrella in her hand to brain you with. The answer is pretty straightforward. They are part of the family. Mind your own business. I’ll take my pew warmers and just go home, thank you very much, without the benefit of your opinion. 

The little old lady, the faithful pew warmer got some not so good news from the doctor a while back. She knows that her time in this place has a certain limit. She has been told. Nonetheless, it does not seem to faze her. Even after getting that news, she has been there every week, God willing and physical health allowing. She is equally made up and equally demure. She is understated, like a rock that just sits there holding everything together. She is a pretty good pew warmer and God willing she will be warming that spot for a little while yet. 

The Bible has a lot to say in these matters. Paul criticized the Churches he ministered to, for playing favourites among the rich and the poor, who was worthy of mention and public displays of respect. The best spots saved for them at banquet tables, sitting close to the host and being handed the best robes. 

Jesus said it too. Don’t underestimate the part someone plays. He said the stone that the builders threw away and rejected, became the corner stone, the one that sets the corners of a structure square, and plays an understated part in the integrity of the whole.

God bless the pew warmers. They are part of the family, all arguments aside. They are the placeholders for the invisibles we may never fully appreciate, but in the eyes of God mean a lot. Blessed are the pew warmers for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. They may even be sitting in the best places ahead of you, chatting up a storm with the host of the feast, and dressed in fancy robes of white. 
0 Comments

    UNCOMMON
    ​THOUGHTS

    ...about common things. 
    ​

    Categories

    All
    Accidental Story
    Activist
    Adjusting The Recipe
    Adult Admission
    A Flannery O'Connor Moment
    After The Tiger
    A High Christology
    A Little Bit Redneck
    All About Widgets
    Allah Wallahi
    Al Low Vs The Man
    All Saints
    A Long List Of Thank Yous
    Amazing Grace
    A Month Of Sundays
    An Offer You Can’t Refuse
    Antique
    A Pile Of Wood And A Plan
    Are We There Yet?
    Artifact
    At Hand
    Attending To Beauty
    At War
    Bad-Ass Outlaw
    Bad Faith
    Badlands
    Baked Boiled Or Fried?
    Balcony Lady
    Beautiful By Design
    Beauty For Ashes
    Being Human
    Belial
    Beneficence
    Beware Of Men Who Cry
    Big Buts Of The Bible
    Blessed Are The Pew Warmers
    Bound For Beauty
    British Invasion
    Bronte Oak
    Bucket List
    But If Not
    But Is It Sandable
    But Is It True?
    Buyer Beware
    Camp Of The Unknown God
    Carlton The Delivery Man
    Chaos
    Cherry Top
    Class Monitors And Safety Patrols
    Clothing Optional
    Cloud Of Witnesses
    Contra Mundum
    Couldn't Not
    Counting The Cost
    Covid Cut
    Creed
    Crucified Man
    Dangerous
    Dangerous Chemicals Of My Youth
    Dieu Et Mon Droit
    Different Drum
    Distressed
    Doing The Lord's Work
    Do It Yourself
    Do-Over
    Do Something!
    Dreaming And Doing
    Edifice
    Egging Armour Hill
    Even As I Am Known
    Even Me
    Even Stranger Things
    Fallow Season
    Family Bible
    Family Business
    Fellowship Of The Brush
    Field Of Faith
    First World Chair
    Fit As You Go
    Fixing The Machine
    Flawed People
    Flock Of Angels
    Follow The Money
    For A Time Such As This
    Fortissimo!
    French Horn
    From A Distance
    Frozen Man
    Funny Words
    Genetic Lottery
    Gifting
    Global
    Good Bones
    Good God Almighty
    Good Government
    Good Luck Skippy
    Gott Mit Uns
    Greatest Is Love
    Gross Anatomy
    Grunt
    Haka!
    Hammer And Tong
    Hands And Eyes
    Happy Rooster
    Hearing Voices
    Hello My Juan
    Helping God Show Off
    Hidden In The Secret Place
    High Dudgeon
    History Bites
    Hockey Tape And Rubber Bands
    Holy Disorder
    Home Economics
    I AM
    I Cannot Help You
    I Could Be Wrong
    I Dare You
    Idiots
    If You Build It
    If You Get There Before I Do
    Im Khalil
    Impossibly Cute
    In A Strange Land
    Incarnation
    Influencer
    In My Own Time
    Inner FIfteen Year Old
    In The Details
    In The Usual Manner
    Invader
    Judge Not
    Just A Few Words
    Justice
    Just In Our Own Time
    Just Like God
    Keep Calm And...
    Keeper
    Keeping House
    Keeping On Keeping On
    KJV
    Knock Yourself Out
    Kumbaya
    Kybo
    Lamentations
    Lemonade
    Less Is More
    Let Me Count The Ways
    Let's Go RIde A BIke
    Linked In
    Little Boxes
    Liturgy
    Lo And Behold
    Logos
    LOL
    Looking Back On The Forward Looking
    Looking For Some Real Good News
    Lord Jesus It’s A FIRE
    Lorem-ipsum-dolor
    Lost-and-found
    Luck Of The Stable
    Magical
    Make-a-baby-laugh
    Make It Nice
    Maker
    Maker’s Mark
    Ma-pitom
    Marbles-in-spring
    Measure Of A Man
    Memory Box
    Men In Loincloths
    Men's Barber Shop
    Middle Ground
    Middleman
    Mistakes All In
    Montreal Spice
    More
    Morse Code
    Mosh Pit
    My Neighbour
    Myth Of Sisyphus
    My Wife The Movie Star
    Name Calling
    Natural
    Neighbour
    New Day
    New Wine
    Next To Godliness
    Next Year Country
    No Fancy Diagram Needed
    No King But Caesar
    None Deserving
    North Of Ground Level
    Nothing Particularly Important
    Nothing Personal
    Not Waiting For Godot
    No Wonder
    Oak
    One Coffee At A Time
    One Smart Farmer
    One Thing
    On Richard Rohr
    On The Lam
    On Writing Clearly
    Ordinary Time
    Out Of Egypt
    Over And Again
    Paint Over That
    Paper Boy
    Particularity
    Particulate Matter
    Part Of The Tradition
    Pater Noster
    Patina
    Pelagian
    Perfect
    Perfect Crime
    Perfect Ride
    Philosemite
    Pilate's Dilemma
    Pinky Swear
    Place At The Table
    Playing Favourites
    Pop-a-corn!
    Potato War
    Preaching Parrot
    Predators
    Prince
    Print Shop
    Prisoner Of Jesus Christ
    Proof Text
    Psalm 1
    Psalm 19
    Put Away The Books
    Putting Up The Lights
    Reduce Reuse Recycle
    Restoration
    Rosemary And The Drug Dealers
    Sandwich
    Say My Name
    Scars
    Second Naiveté
    Seeing Red
    Seven Sixty-Five
    Shouting From The Areopagus
    Shrove-tuesday
    Silent-witness
    Small-c
    Small-graces
    Sore-afraid
    Squat
    Starting With What Is True
    Street Food
    Superstar
    Take-a-punch
    Takedown
    Talking-head
    Talking Your Parents Down From The Ledge
    Telling-the-story
    Thanksgiving
    The-best-for-last
    The Bliss Of Ignorance
    The Church Invisible
    Thecrossingking
    The Evil Day
    The-general
    The Great Mystery
    The-joys-of-hash
    Themysteryofthecheshirecat
    The-particularity-of-place
    The-quickening
    Therefore-choose-life
    The Table-ness Of A Table
    The Way
    Though One Be Raised From The Dead
    Thoughts On Sixty
    Three Jews And A Gentile
    Thrice Wise
    Throwing The Spaghetti Against The Wall
    Timeless
    Time Vs Time
    Tim Falladay
    Tims No More
    Tonto And Me
    Touching Stones
    Trevor’s Super Bad Day
    Trick Key
    Tubafore!
    Unbelievable
    Under A Bush? HELL NO!
    Uninvited
    Unspectacular
    Use Gently
    Watching Paint Dry
    Wayside Chapel
    Weaker Sex (?)
    We Stand On Guard For Thee
    We Were Waiting
    What Are You Prepared To DO?
    What Lazarus Knew
    When Cows Fly
    When Odd Becomes Interesting
    Why I Still Like Cowboys
    Witness
    Woke
    Wood Show
    Woodworking Lessons In Empathy
    Words
    Words... The Right Tool
    Worthy Adversary
    You And Me And Rob

    RSS Feed

Contact Us

    Subscribe Today!

Submit
Picture
  • Home
  • Hello and Welcome
  • Blog
  • Random Gatherings
  • My Book
  • FAQ