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 Did
you know that back in the days of the reformers, people had
to stand through the entire service! and the services
were 3 hours long! Nobody knows who was the first person
to hew a pew, but when seats finally arrived, a lot of problems
came with them: for instance, What to call them? Lecterns
were elevated to "pulpits", robes were changed to
vestments, and songs were re-christened to "hymns".
So you couldn't just call the seats the "seats".
It was finally decided that since they were really benches
that rested on carved feet, they should be named after the
old medieval word for feet, which was "puie".
A lot of old smelly medieval feet probably deserved the word,
but it wasn't fitting for use in church, so they changed the
spelling to "pew".
Disagreement
over when to use them caused major theological discussions.
Anglicans were still much of the old school, that "no
pews is good pews". Lutherans just used pews as a stopping
place between risings and sittings. Baptists had no strong
feelings either way. As long as you go all the way under when
you're baptized, standing or sitting didn't mean a thing in
the end. The only thing the Bible says is: "that a
person should not stand in the company of sinners or
sit in the seat of the scornful" (Psalm 1:1
KJV) Of course, anyone that perfect wouldn't really need to
go to church in the first place. Pews have not just been the
cause of disagreement; they have also been the source of familiar
expressions like "splinter groups" and "dead
end". Some pews come equipped with cushions. But one
church had to put suction cups on the bottoms of the cushions
because the sexton decided to wax the pews one day and worshipers
were sliding right out of sight.
So how
much pew time does it take before we like church? For me it
took about 18 years! I've been attending Sunday School and
worship services since before I was old enough to remember.
My earliest memories were those of fidgety boredom. But like
it or not, I put in my pew time and today, by the grace of
God, I am what I am. I'm convinced that if it wasn't for all
that pew time, I wouldn't be serving the church today. I'm
just old fashioned enough to say that's what it still takes.
Doing
"pew time" is an essential ingredient of Christian
faith regardless of our age. Our faith will never grow without
it. It's something we're called to do whether we feel like
it or not. I realize that some people can do ‘pew time'
all their lives and still not like it. We may as well get
used to pews, because it says that in heaven ‘Sinners
shall not stand in the judgement' (Psalm 1:5 KJV)
Whether that be the case or not, in the mean time, pew time
is needed, desperately so!
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