"Picking A Good Seat"
Mark 10:35-45
October 22, 2006

Every time I come in this place to worship, I pick my seat. I'm use to sitting right here in the first row of chairs. It's been a long time since we've spoken about why I sit where I sit. But first, why do you sit where you sit? Remember when the two big chairs were up there. Does part of you still wish they were? Did you ever sit there...when you've been leading worship...or maybe when no one was looking?

Up there. That's where the pastor is "supposed" to sit and the one leading worship with her. For Pete's sake, why then isn't she sitting there!!?

Jesus says, "The cup that I drink, you will drink" (it gets harder before it gets better because I am asking you to buck the system not for the sake of bucking, but for your sake and the sake of others….people are more important than systems, traditions, habits).

Jesus says, "and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized" (you are washed with the grace of God which takes away the past and opens you to the present, in-courages you to follow me and not the your former ways or the ways of this world).

Jesus says, "but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." ....and so, for whom has it been prepared? For your pastor? For the one with the most power and authority through their position in the church? an elder? a deacon? Is it someone outside the church? Jesus said someone is prepared to sit there...who? ...who will it be who gets to sit with God in paradise?

It's a good thing Jesus goes on to explain because just like the disciples, we all want to be powerful, get the attention of sitting up front in the big chairs in our lives...at home, at work, at church, in our organizations. We all need affirmation and credit given and a sense of our own power, and we get bent out of shape (like the disciples) when we don't get it! Are power and authority bad things? Who gets to sit up there?

Well, I don't imagine even in Jesus' glory he is sitting on a throne. That would be the last place I'd expect to see Jesus....the last place I'd expect to see God is sitting in a great stone chair amongst the clouds! Jesus is where ever there are those who are in pain, in confusion, caught up in the culture, caught up in despair, left out or behind. Jesus is with those who need him most. Jesus is not like a worldly king....it's not a kingdom he's after...it's a kin-dom where we are all together as a covenant family...family the way it can be...where everyone has power and say, joy and fulfillment, the sense of being heard and mattering. …not in chairs but around a communion table of internal empowerment.

And Jesus says, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers’ lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you...and whoever wishes to be first among you (sit in the seat next to Jesus) must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life."

Power is not a bad thing in and of itself. Here Jesus is giving us a pep talk to be powerful! ...and to take that power and use it as the divine ruler of life would have us use it: to serve others! This is how we are prepared to sit in just the right seat next to Jesus, with God...forever...by using our power and abilities and time and gifts to serve the needs of others...just like Jesus did...just like many of us are beginning to do.

You see, there's open seating in heaven! Enough seats for all of us who get it....and God never gives up on anyone who doesn't get it. I believe God never gives up on anyone...no matter how mislead, how evil, how destructive, how hateful, how corrupt in power. I believe God will go even beyond time and mortality to reach us. In God's timing, even that person you will see "in heaven" sitting next to Jesus as you sit there with him. There are no power plays in this life that assure the best seating with Jesus. And in this life, those who engage in power plays only get temporary rewards...folding chairs! ...until in God's timing, they get it and take their seats.

But make no mistake! Those are not cheap seats! When we follow Jesus to use our power for the good of all, we are saying yes to living a life diametrically opposed to many of the values and norms of society. It may mean befriending the most unpopular kid at school. It may mean losing a job rather than compromising your integrity. It may mean refusing to blindly obey your government. It may mean going hungry yourself in order to feed others. It may mean giving up a sports event to go to church where your presence impacts people. Drinking from the cup that Jesus drank from is not easy. We may well wish to ask God to take it away if possible...just like Jesus did at first...filled with sorrow at the cost of discipleship.

There is a cost, but we are called to serve...as Jesus did...called to make a difference in the lives of the people around us. So, how will you know if you're making the right choices to reserve a good seat for yourself? Would you feel comfortable with your choices if you saw Jesus standing next to you as you made them? You do know how to make good choices. You can feel it, even if as you try to deny it, you can feel it.

How do you know...if there'll be seating available for you in heaven when you get there?

Look at who you are serving right now in your life through the choices you are making? Are you self-serving? Serving in easy ways? Serving leftovers instead of a banquet?

I know it's scary to serve. It's even scary to serve your church where you are loved...how much scarier to serve people you don't know who are so needy. But you are equipped and able to do this work. God made you to be able to do this work and God gave us each other to make it easier to go and serve....together.

Where are you to be seated? Well.....

We are about to start purchasing holiday meals for the hungry. How many excuses do you have to say no I don't really have enough money left over to help out? ...beware... folding chair!

We are being better stewards of our space as we also greet those outside the church with more inviting worship bulletins and seating. Are you really willing to let chairs, bulletins, your fond memories of the past versus a growing community keep you from worship and ministry? ….beware….folding chair!

We are being invited to teach Sunday School, come to Sparkle Day, participate at Hope House. How many excuses will you make saying you don't have the time to do that? ....beware...folding chair!

We are soon to be inviting people to name their gratitudes for Tippe’s ministry in their lives as well as the lives of others. How many excuses do you have to say no….I’ll not give more…not even COLA let alone really more? ...beware....you just may be sitting on a folding chair!

We are about to step forward in all areas of our ministry as we grow our annual budget. How many excuses will you make to avoid changing your life in any way that will help you devote more money, time, talent, just to come…and so enable the kin-dom? …those changes it will take may just be what can lead you to the life you say you long to live. Not going to do it? ...beware…folding chair!

If you come and sit up there, it doesn't really feel good. I think that it's partly because the chairs face away from the cross and the table. The cross symbolizes the courage (not the suffering, but the courage!) which comes if we truly sup with Jesus at the table. The cross and table symbolize the joy that comes in being freed from the perspectives of this world. There is a cost, but there is joy in freedom! Praise be to God!

For God's sake, for your own... pick a good seat!