The Honor Seat

This last week a dear friend of our held a party to celebrate the achievement of her doctorate degree. A friend and coworker hosted the event, which was catered in the finest English style. With half the meal being desserts, the low-carb lifestyle Monica and I have been living may have taken a slight hit. There was a beautiful outdoor gazebo, big enough for the nineteen of us to sit at finely decorated tables. In the evening light, the strings of lights strung around the place delivered a storybook atmosphere.

None of this surprised me. I enjoyed it all, but knowing my friend, I knew whoever she asked to set up a party would make the environment special. We were surprised however.

Upon entry we were given a game to play. On a paper was a list of character qualities or unusual facts about someone at the party. The goal of the game was to ask questions, listen to stories, and figure out who was who. Every entry was something special. Monica and I were able to pick ourselves out fairly easily because the stories were very unique to us. But we found as we read, that every item on the list was something I wished I could say about myself. I thought, “I know this one is me, but I kind of hope these ones are me too.”

After the dinner, her husband spoke to her life and the road which has brought her to this place of accomplishment. Once he was done, she stood. In front of each of our place settings was a small flower in a pot. On the pot was written the definition of a champion. She pointed out that there was also a tag specific to each of us. Declaring us champions each in our own way.

She then began individually speaking to each one of us, calling out how we had been champions for her, and in our respected fields/communities. All of a sudden, a night to celebrate her became a night where I was humbled to be present. A night in which we thought we were blessing her was turned back on us in a wave of blessing and grace.

Continued below…

Now he (Jesus) told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

We all came to sit at the lowest place. We knew who the honored guest was. Yet in true Christ-like fashion, she shifted the table. We were moved higher, and honor was given to us. As we drove away, we went with feelings I don’t have words to identify.

Now imagine with me, a life lived this way. What if, in each environment you entered, you brought a taste of the table in Jesus’ parable? How would the people around you be affected? How wouldyou be affected? Imagine, if your church was a place where this was the norm? Where every person who walked through the door left knowing that someone not only saw them and cared, but honored the champion in them.

This my friends is a big ask. It is not the way we are wired. It is however the way Christ lived and called us to live. Invest in others the way you would love to be invested in, the same way our friend invested in us on her special day.

By His Grace, For His Glory,

Pastor Shaun