Before yesterday’s first service yesterday in Downers Grove, Illinois, the pastors showed me an old photograph. It’s the head table at a banquet, and a Boy Scout is sitting next to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. After the third service, that Boy Scout, Mr. Frank Hemler, told me the story.
It’s 1937. Mr. William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, invited 15-year-old Frank to play taps at a special event in New York and then attend an evening banquet. The day came, he played taps, and later was seated at the far end of a long banquet table. Mayor LaGuardia was supposed to sit next to Mrs. Roosevelt but city business came up. Who will sit next to Mrs. Roosevelt? Politicians and wannabes would, but if the mayor returned, the self-seeker would have to give up that seat of honor and be embarrassed. So the organizers moved the Boy Scout next to the First Lady. No shame to the scout if LaGuardia came and he had to give up the place of honor. The Mayor never did return, and Mr. Hemler said Mrs. Roosevelt was warm and engaging, paying him special attention all evening.
“When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: ‘When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:7-11; NIV).
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