Where To Sit

Last week the our two oldest children had their Winter program at school. You know the one where all the students line up on the stage wearing reindeer hats made with their own handprints singing Christmas songs. Well, at least trying to sing Christmas songs that they may or may not know the words to as the music teacher sits frantically, yet somehow patiently, in front of the carolers mouthing the words as best she can hoping all the while that she can just get through the next 20 minutes.


Matt actually had the day off because of a project we were working on at our church. Therefore, we were quite excited that both of us would be able to attend and show our support to the kids. We knew that we wouldn’t have any problems getting good seats.  The show was in the middle of the day and we live in a sleeper town in which most families are dual income.  So no other parents would be home to attend. Well, we thought we knew that anyway.

We arrived at the school 10 minutes before the doors even opened. As we turned the corner we noticed an overwhelming amount of cars lining the streets. There was already a line of anxious parents wrapping around the building. The lines reminded me of the ones we experienced on Black Friday. I was amazed at how many people took the day off to come to an elementary school Christmas show.  As the masses made their way to the gymnasium the crowd quickly became standing room only. At one point in time the principal even offered the floor space between the seats and stage to parents. And because I knew that Caleb was expecting me to hear his solo that we practiced for days, I chose to sit up front on the hard gym floor.

So, why, when I went to church on Sunday, wasn’t it the same way? There wasn’t a large amount of people that rearranged their day and schedule to make it a point to attend.  People did not leave their houses 30 minutes early to make sure to get there before the doors even opened. There was no line of worshipers wrapping around the building. We weren’t fighting over who was going to get to sit in the front row. Quite contrary. Most people get ro church just in the nick of time if on time at all and it is usually the front rows that get sat in last if they get sat in at all.

It just makes me wonder if there is away to get as enthusiastic about hearing a church sermon as we do about hearing 100 elementary kids sing. Maybe we should try and get our pastors to wear reindeer hats.