From the pew

  Such a safe place - the pew. By definition, it is the sought after (?) place in the church's sanctuary from which you can sit back and view what's going on. You can also offer your commentary without fear of having to prove it or do anything about it because the pew is a place of un-involvement, where you don't do anything. However, I would contend that it is also a place of frustration because it is also a place where you are invisible. 

  Being 'visible' requires that you be involved. You are required to provide your gifting to the rest of the body - and without holding back or expecting anything in return. That's how the body works. Remember the words in 1Corinthians 12:

     "For in fact the body is not one member but many." (v.14)
     "...God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as
      He pleased." (v.18)
     "But now indeed there are many members, yet one body." (v.20)
     "...that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members
      should have the same care for one another." (v.25)
     "Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually." (v.27)

  I don't believe that pew sitting is a gift of the Spirit or an office in the church. Pew sitting is really not accepting membership - ever think of it in that light? I realize that what I am saying is incredibly harsh. But... we are living in a harsh world, one that is tossing aside all restraint. As Christians we are being asked to assume our place and move as Ambassadors (2Corinthians 5:17-21) in the world we live in.

  There is much work to be done and it's an 'all hands on deck' time. John (4:35) tells us that we are "...to lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!" Simply sitting in a pew can not be tolerated. Yet you do have a choice. Actually, the questions belong to you - do you see yourself as part of the body? Are you a member set there by God? Do you want to be? 

     "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - whether
      Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free - and have all been made
      to drink into one Spirit." (12:13)

You do remember what happens when the Spirit arrives - He brings power in our lives to be who and what we are asked to be. But it can't be done... from the pew.