This would not have been a difficult question to answer in times past. Most of us who grew up in Church sat in the pews within the Church building, some cushioned, some not.
However, this question is not so difficult to answer even now. For as Church services have transitioned from being held in a building to being held virtually on the various social media platforms, the pew has also transitioned from being a Church-bound seat to a seat at our kitchen tables or our living room couches, for example.
These kitchen-table or living room pews are not new, for the Early Church held many of her gatherings of believers in someone’s home:
“Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus…greet also the church that meets at their house” (Rom 16:5; 1 Corinth 16:19)
“Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house” (Col 4:16)
JESUS used the outdoor spaces of a mountainside or a lake with great acoustical effectiveness (no microphones, no amplifiers) from where He taught and preached the Beatitudes (Matt 5:1), the Mysteries of the Kingdom (Matt13:1-52), and the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24:1 – 25:46). So, our new pew may be a blanket pew on the grass, or a park bench pew, or a picnic table pew, shared with other believers who are studying the Word of God in the great outdoors.
We have already made our car seats a pew when we have turned on the radio to a Christian broadcast of God’s Word. And perhaps we have created a bedside pew when we read and meditated upon God’s Word before we laid our heads upon a pillow for the night.
JESUS announced that “where two or three come together in My Name, there am I with them” (Matt 18:20). And we know how beneficial and edifying it is to study in community. JESUS also revealed Himself to those who were in solitary confinement for the cause of His Word: the Apostle Paul’s pew was in a prison cell and the Apostle John’s pew was on the isle of Patmos.
The bottom line is that your pew is wherever you are intentionally and prayerfully engaging God’s Word, whether in the company of others or as a solitary discipline of your faith~! Our God can meet you wherever you are~!
JESUS used the outdoor spaces of a mountainside or a lake with great acoustical effectiveness (no microphones, no amplifiers) from where He taught and preached the Beatitudes (Matt 5:1), the Mysteries of the Kingdom (Matt13:1-52), and the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24:1 – 25:46). So, our new pew may be a blanket pew on the grass, or a park bench pew, or a picnic table pew, shared with other believers who are studying the Word of God in the great outdoors.
We have already made our car seats a pew when we have turned on the radio to a Christian broadcast of God’s Word. And perhaps we have created a bedside pew when we read and meditated upon God’s Word before we laid our heads upon a pillow for the night.
JESUS announced that “where two or three come together in My Name, there am I with them” (Matt 18:20). And we know how beneficial and edifying it is to study in community. JESUS also revealed Himself to those who were in solitary confinement for the cause of His Word: the Apostle Paul’s pew was in a prison cell and the Apostle John’s pew was on the isle of Patmos.
The bottom line is that your pew is wherever you are intentionally and prayerfully engaging God’s Word, whether in the company of others or as a solitary discipline of your faith~! Our God can meet you wherever you are~!
