Scooch over, shift your perspective

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Want to know the best way to get a better sense of what your parish is really like? Sit in a place you’re not used to sitting. Or sit in the very back pew, or stand along the back wall with those who came in late, or sit in the cry room. You’ll see and hear what it’s like when you’re not one of the “insiders.”

Want to know the simplest way to make your parish more hospitable? Have people sit in the middle of the pew instead of its ends. This way newcomers and latecomers need not crawl over others to find a place to sit. Doing this says to them, “We have made space for you. Welcome!”

Want to know how welcoming your parish really is? Invite a family with a crying baby to sit in the front, or make friends with the homeless person down the street and ask them to come to Mass with you. Then sit with them during Mass and see what it’s like.

It’s easy to get into the habit of sitting in the same place or with the same people every time we come to Mass. But doing so never allows us to see the world from a different perspective, especially from the stranger or the outcast’s point of view.