Come On Down !!!!!

Does it matter where you sit in church? I know, I know, there are psychological studies that show that those who sit in the front of class get better grades than those that sit in the back of class. And thinking along those same lines, those parishioners that sit in the front of church are more likely to volunteer and support the church than those who sit in the back.

This topic came up about a month or so ago when our pastor mentioned in his editorial in the weekly bulletin that those who sat in the balcony or the back should literally reconsider their position. I used to sit up to the left in the second row while my daughters were young, and then moved back to the back row when they went off to college. For a long time I sat there in the back with my mother and father. ('I was then able to hug my Mom at 'peace time.')

Father implied in one of his writings a little while ago that those who sit in the back and upstairs should only do so if there was not enough seating on the main floor. I thought about it and decided to get out of my 'rut' and change seats each week to see if where I sat affected my spirituality. Did changing seats make me more holy? (almost anything could make me more holy! ;-) ) Probably not, but I did become pretty enamored with the balcony seating. I had never actually sat up there before and actually fell in love with the view! Different from the usual floor seats. I could actually see the whole mass without having to look through anyone. And as I looked straight across, I become transfixed on gazing on the Lord walking off his cross. A beautiful site indeed!

The people in the balcony seats were just as warm and wonderful as the people that routinely sat in front and those in the back row.

I am writing about this now because more than a couple of people told me that people were asked to leave the balcony Sunday and sit up front. The reason given was that there were plenty of seats up front in the main section due to the inclement weather and the time change.

Those that usually sit there were quite surprised and some were a little offended. Should they have been?