Author’s Note: Thirty years ago, I purchased a 60-year-old fourteen-foot long church pew during a fundraising program at my church. In time I had it cut down to seven feet, re-stained and polished to become a cherished family treasure. I have often pondered what that pew has seen and heard in the decades it spent in the sanctuary of our church home. So I thought I’d share my thoughts on a Reflection I titled “View from a Pew”……..despite my daughter’s suggested headline of “Fannies of the Faithful.”

View from a Pew

I am a wooden bench, faded with age and worn from years of use. I have cradled the fannies of the faithful for decades, creaking as each squirmed to get comfortable even as the Holy Spirit stirred their soul. Generations have sat upon my familiar form, some out of a sense of obligation, others with a righteous hope and a heart yearning for a message of love and forgiveness.

I was formed and fashioned to be a place for the weary to find rest, the broken to plead for healing, sinners to beg for mercy and the redeemed to offer thanksgiving with songs of praise to the Author of Life. The tears of the repentant heart have soaked my fibers. Every prayer, every sermon, and every hymn have reverberated off my wooden frame.

For many, my seat became a rendezvous with grace.

I am here for you.

My name is pew, church pew. I was created for a purpose.

And so were you.