A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to do something pastors seldom do in their own church:

Nothing.

It was a special Sunday, Children’s Sabbath, and our children were running the whole show (with expert help from our staff).  I was, for once, superfluous on a Sunday morning so you know what I did?

I sat up in the balcony.

Each week I watch this crew of folks who choose to sit in the balcony.  Lots of kids, laid back parents, folks who seemed to take things a little casually.

I decided I wanted to see what it was like to just be a spectator–an audience member up in the cheap seats, so I climbed up, sat down, got comfortable, and discovered that I was wrong about the whole thing.

I was wrong about worship in the balcony.  I hadn’t fully realized that it was a holy place of worship just like any other place.

If I truly wanted to do “nothing” that Sunday, I was in the wrong place.  There was nothing superfluous up here.   No audience members or spectators.   Only worshippers in our balcony.

In fact, the unique perspective added to the experience.  We were hovering down over the worship leaders and the rest of the congregation — I’d call it an angelic perspective.

We stood and sang at the hymns, we prayed at the prayers and we listened to the sermon, just like anybody else. But from our vantage point the whole sanctuary was laid out before us.

It was quite beautiful, really.

I always wanted to sit in the “cheap seats” because it looked like fun.

Turns out it offered the richest of worship experiences.

Have a Great Week,

Mitch