"Sit Here Under My [Chair]"

Okay I know James used the word "footstool" when referring to the poor manner in which rich people were treating others of lower class who visited the churches, but I don't have a footstool at church. In fact we don't have pews. We have padded chairs which we found on ebay, and purchased used for $11 each. Then we drove to New York with a U-Haul trailer to pick them up at a country club.

Now we have 120 chairs, and we have a church of much smaller size. We even have 60 extra which are being stored in our vault. So, if someone asks to borrow our chairs, we figure that we have extras, and we can loan them out.

Well, what would you do if a Witch asked to borrow 15 of your chairs for some workshops He would sponsor over the Halloween season in Salem?

"Heavens no! Thou shalt not sully my holy chairs by thine unclean hiney!"

"Well, I think that we will be needing them, and can not spare a chair at this time."

"I will have to consult the church council, and my denominational leadership before I can offer help of this magnitude."

"I will allow you to use our chairs, but please know that as a Bible believing Christian I stand firmly against your beliefs, and I am giving them to you, because it shows how Jesus gave His life for us even when we were sinners."

"Sure, we've got more than enough. Do you need help hauling them over there?


For far more reasons than I can list here, I chose the last response, and we gave our own chairs - not the extras in the vault. I know many Christians would have chosen any answer but the last one. At The Gathering we tend to think that honesty, grace, and helping out friends no matter who they are is a good thing. Perhaps some people would feel that we are helping to further a bad cause - like giving an alcoholic cash to get his next bottle. All I know is that a friend who happens to be a Witch asked for some help, and I did not have to break the Ten Commandments to do it.

So, there you have it. Life in Salem gets more interesting all the time. I know that Christians will hear about the chairs, and freak out. I also know that there will be Witches who hear about the chairs, and will wonder what kind of manipulation we are masking by our kindness.


Darn, I'm not even sure how generous it was. After all, we had 180 chairs, which is about double what we need right now. Well everybody has happy butts now, and that can only make Salem a better place to live, and maybe there will a person or two who realize that Christians don't have to be spooky, and afraid during Halloween, or around people who call themselves Witches.