Will You Move Chairs?

Taking down chairs before the funeral

 A few weeks ago, I traveled home to attend a funeral at the church where I was raised. Most days, the church's parking lots are full of cars belonging to employees and students of the local high school. When there is a funeral during the school day, there is a need to block off the parking lots so the space is available for those attending the funeral. The night before this funeral, there was a home basketball game so the parking lots weren't able to be blocked off until later in the evening. Since I've always loved helping my dad, when he called and asked me to come help him, I didn't hesitate.

The church uses old metal folding chairs and bright yellow plastic ribbon to rope off the two small lots and, since Vestaburg isn't a booming metropolis, I didn't figure this process would take too long. I was mistaken. It was already almost 10 PM when my dad called and the temperature had dropped significantly since the sun had set. Not thinking about that, I had forgotten to grab my gloves as I left my house. After moving about five freezing metal chairs, my hands were numb. I laughed at myself for being so silly. I continued to set up chairs and prayed for the family and friends who would be traveling into town the next day for the service.

I had made it about half way through the first lot when I remembered the words of one of my mentors in ministry, "Will you move chairs?" David Joe used to ask me this question at the beginning of every week of camp we worked together. Really he was asking, "Will you do whatever it takes to get the job done, to show God's love to others?" I think far too often we have defined ministry as leading a church or preaching a sermon, but the reality is ministry is loving those around you and sharing Christ with them in very tangible ways, even if they don't know your doing it. Ministry is having coffee and listening to someone's story without throwing in your two cents all the time. Ministry is scrubbing toilets just for the sake of helping someone out. Ministry is not some vocation or formal position but being love.

When I returned from the my home from the funeral, I discovered David Joe has actually posted a video about this question. You can check it out below. What are the chairs God may be asking you to move?