It's true! I steal seats. I rarely get called on it, but yesterday in church, Cheri Ponziani sat in the seat behind me before church began. She tapped me on the shoulder and told me that where I was sitting was her favorite seat in the whole sanctuary. She explained that she loved it because of the sun shining in on her! I began to offer to surrender her spot, but she insisted that I stay and enjoy it. I did!
It's not an evil thing that I do. I guess I'm just sort of an iconoclast. I like to take different perspectives. As a hearing-disabled person, I have also discovered that I hear better in certain areas of the sanctuary.
I'm not prejudiced about the seats I steal. Sometimes I know that I'm sitting where someone else usually sits - call me mischievous. 😉 However, most of the time I just saunter in and head in the opposite direction from last Sunday!
And yes, by-the-way, if you're wondering - I did this in college and seminary classes too! It's remarkable to me what creatures of habit we are! Why do we tend to claim the same spot so persistently?
I was raised in the Free Methodist Church and worked in that environment for forty-four years. We often get asked what we're free from - usually accompanied by a silly smirk. I'll spare you the lesson in the history of the Free Methodist Church, but I will enlighten you enough to know that part of the reason for our departure from the Methodist Episcopal Church around 1860, was because they sold/rented their pews. The original founders of the FMC felt that this was unjust to the poor and cited it as one of the reasons for separating from the Episcopals.
So, perhaps my penchant for stealing seats is embedded in me as a result of my denominational heirs [or Haire's].
Notice that through the years this has not been much of a problem for my wife and family. For most of those years I had a reserved seat on the platform. Hmmm...maybe that's partly why I so thoroughly enjoy stealing seats at this stage of my life? I've finally attained the satisfaction of 'seat-selecting-freedom'!
But, in my post-retirement years, Debbie has struggled with my penchant for stealing seats. Since I drop her off at the door, she often goes in and gets settled ahead of me. When I do enter, I have no idea where she's sitting because she's so friendly that she's moving around talking with people. So, I plop down in my selection of the morning. Eventually, she sees me [or is told about my location by someone] and gathers up her stuff to join me. She's a very patient woman and I love her to pieces! She puts up with a lot of my specific idiosyncrasies!
So, anyway, I feel better for airing my confession!
By the way, if I happen to sit in your seat some Sunday, please don't be offended. Perhaps you could consider it a nudge to observe worship that week from a different perspective. Besides, I am not a trouble-maker. if you ask nicely - and slip me $10 - I will gladly steal someone else's seat! 😊
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