“Brothers and sisters, I would like a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.”
– Pope Leo XIV
For years, I have been begging and pleading for parishioners to “slide in.” I’ve even come close to bribing them. No matter what church I visit, I walk in a few minutes early for Mass and pews are guarded on either end by those who have marked their territory for generations. Are they lectors? No. Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion? Nope. Will they scoot down when someone wants to join the pew? It is always an interesting social experiment. Last week, I needed to visit a different parish for Sunday Mass and even though I was very early, the ends of the pews were already claimed, and I needed to step over what I could only surmise were lifers in this community.
While I waited for Mass to begin (and when I should have been praying), I couldn’t help but observe this familiar dynamic in this unfamiliar parish and I wondered: why do we hate the middle? I also will admit that I was pridefully giving myself an “atta boy” during the entire liturgy because I always “slide in.” Later that evening, I looked at my boarding pass for the next day’s flight and groaned aloud as I learned of the worst possible scenario – a middle seat.
I hate the middle because I want control. I think others hate the middle because they are uncomfortable to inconvenience someone. I think we hate the middle because it requires us to be interdependent. In life, leadership, and especially discipleship, where am I fighting the middle? Where am I reluctant to give up control or to give in to my dependence on others — and especially the Lord? Where am I seeing others as an obstacle to overcome versus a fellow traveler on the journey? Where am I an obstacle because I refuse to move a little toward the middle? A good priest friend once challenged me when I was being stubborn: “Dan, in a swimming pool, it’s easy to hold onto the sides and kick, it’s much harder to tread water in the middle. But treading water is what makes you stronger.”
As we continue whatever resolutions we may have adopted for this new year, let’s be sure we add “sliding in” a little toward the middle to help us make room for who and what the Lord is calling us to welcome and to be.
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