I've assisted with numerous chair setups in the Grace Auditorium. I enjoy the satisfaction of seeing those 700+ chairs in their neat rows ready for the next event; the sense of accomplishment. There have been some extra chair setup challenges that I recall...
- The phone rang at around 7:30 one Sunday morning with the news that the chairs were not setup and services started at 9:15. Several others responded to the pleas for help and we had the chairs setup in time for the morning worship.
- The crew to setup chairs for a wedding didn't arrive and we had only 1 hour to have the Auditorium setup for the ceremony.
I notice stiffness in my back now when I setup and take down the chairs and there is no question there are more glamorous areas of our ministry, but our services would be greatly impacted if we didn't have chairs on Sunday morning. Chair setup is a labor intensive, time consuming part of our ministry that has few visible rewards. But that's just it, there are rewards, they're just invisible. Maybe we need to view chair setup in a different light. As I've been writing this, the thought occurred to me that next time I setup chairs, I could pray for the person that will sit in each chair as I set it up.
Maybe we need to view chair setup as preparing holy ground?
