I don't know if your church building has one, but ours seems to. There's a bench in our chapel that certain churchgoers tend to use. It's the last padded bench--behind it are chairs that must be set up beforehand.
I call it The Widow's Bench.
And I've thought of it that way for decades.
It's were my mom used to sit with her friends.
I think I first noticed it when my mom sat there. My family would sit in the back and my mom would sit with her friends on the bench. It's a nice bench--there's plenty of leg room in front of it, and since it's prime real estate (as far as where to sit in the chapel goes...) I've notice many widows arrive early, much earlier than young parents bringing along with them a kid or four.
In our congregation, we've lost a dozen or more parishioners in the past two years. I believe they've all been men. Some of the widows have moved from the neighborhood, but most have not. I can only imagine the type of strength and friendship they share. It's no wonder they sit together on the last padded bench in the chapel.
Yes, my mother sat on that bench for years. In fact, she was a widow even before that chapel was built. So many others sat with her over the years, and after she left us, others took her place. Since I don't visit many other churches or worship in other church buildings, I don't know if they have a widow's bench or not. But, since people tend to act in similar ways, I imagine there's probably a lot of widow's benches out there, and my guess is, they're most likely occupied during each worship service.
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