At the church I work at there are roughly 531 chairs in the Worship Center (don’t get me started on how we ended with the number 1). Part of my weekly responsibilities is to go in to the room and “reset” the chairs. Nothing glamorous but it usually includes a long stick, patience, and a good playlist over the house speakers. Most weeks I go in and do my thing and don’t put too much thought into it. After all, it’s chairs… in rows… what’s there to think about? However, this past week we had Woodlands Freestyle come and lead a camp for our kids ministry. Basically a week filled with scripture memory, games, lots of sugar, and the gospel being taught and explained to every camper that walks through the doors for 5 full days. So, every day this past week I did what I always do. I walk in to the room with my “chair straightener stick”, patience and a good playlist, (shout out to Switchfoot for helping me through it)! However, this week was different, a question kept coming to my mind and to be honest it’s a shame I haven’t asked it sooner. As I straightened the rows I couldn’t help but see how crooked and out of place they were. I know we have experienced numerous earthquakes recently but this must have been a massive one because there were chairs so far from their original place I couldn’t understand how it could have gotten there! But, like I said before a question kept coming to my mind that I am confident was from the Lord. Why would I want them to look the same? Why would I want the chairs to look the same way they did that morning because the way I see it chairs that are still in their neat rows at the end of the day never had someone sitting in them. Crooked, uneven, rows with chairs spread out far and wide tell a story. They tell a story of someone that has a life that is unique to them and only them. They tell a story of singing songs and full body workouts trying to match the hand motions to those songs! They tell a story of ears both young and old that heard the story of the gospel, perhaps even for the first time. They are a testament to Romans 10:14 because at the end of the day messy chairs show that people sat and heard and someone spoke and preached the message of hope.
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (ESV).
Don’t get me wrong for all honesty and transparency purposes there are weeks that I don’t want to have to worry about it and use that time elsewhere. But every week without fail I walk in to that room and am reminded of the truth that messy chairs are a testament that people sat, danced around, sang, and heard the gospel. If there is one thing I’ve realized about my job is that my biggest responsibility is making sure that the building is a space ready for the Church to do all those things that the chairs will be a testament too. So, hopefully this week spawned a question that I’ll ask myself for many years to come. Why would I want them to look the same?
