Mephibosheth No ReservationsSept 2

This summer, amid all the blockbuster films of Pirates of the Caribean III, Shrek III, Harry Potter, Pan's Labyrinth and Bridge to Terabythia, there is a little film that probably will not win any award, it has no great special effects, no Bad Language, no Viloence, no Sex, and yet, NO RESERVATIONS still manages to be a memorable and delightful little film. Set in a restaurant, it plays off the double entendre of restaurants so popular you can get NO Reservations, and those so personal and quaint you need No Reservation, the pressures and stresses of trying to be the VERY BEST, versus living a life with NO RESERVATIONS.

NO RESERVATIONS, Perhaps that is the recognition of an Anniversary at 35 years of marriage...
Phases of having been newlyweds; putting one another through school; then the infancy of children and watching them grow to school age; then into adults; standing beside our own parents when one day we recognize our nests are empty. Fiddler of the Roof had a song that was popular in weddings 35 years ago SUNRISE SUNSET SWIFTLY PASS THE YEARS, but as much as that song focuses upon the child maturing, “the swift sunsets” come after we are adults. Funny, how we are always in a hurry to grow up, to figure out what we will be, nobody told us how many stages of being an adult there were. And we reflect upon a lifetime together with NO RESERVATIONS.

Possibly that carries over to this morning, still SUMMER, with bright blue skies, temperatures in the 80s, people swimming in the lake, the sounds of children's laughter, the smells of flowers in bloom, picnics and barbeques, but tomorrow night when the last boom echoes, and the smell of gunpowder hangs like a cloud in the air, the Fall Schedule will have begun. Live life as if there were NO NEED RESERVATIONS, an endless summer. Then, put away your white, get out notebooks, as everyone plays catch-up to return to routine in a competitive cut-throat world where NO ONE CAN GET RESERVATIONS. I am never certain whether our pace and lives, slow down during the summer, or whether regardless of how fast and hard we work at summer we ratchet up that much faster in the Fall.

Biblical passages about the Hebrew idea of “HESED”, honoring and fulfilling one's commitment.
This morning, with NO RESERVATIONS, we talk together about “LOYALTY”, commitment and confidence, come what may.

We live in an era of radically shifting values, commodities and investments, that seem secure, and suddenly are worthless, while the worthless become of value. In a world where one's home radically shifts from being appraised at $40,000 to being assessed at $1,000,000 and just as quickly back again. We wonder if anything has worth? If anyone is RESERVED. If anything, anyone, can be believed? Is everything people say, just words, or does The WORD have integrity?

Do we only take people seriously, who are a threat to us, who can compete? Is there still LOYALTY? If they retire, or demonstrate a HUMILITY, their own humanity or weakness, do we think of them an invalid, or IN-Valid? Can we have competititons for the IRON MAN as well as claiming a place for everyone? Can we accept as well as forgive?

Among all the privleges of life, I think I have one of the finest. For on several occasions, women and men of wisdom have asked if we could sit together, to get their life in order. Not the work of an accountant, valuing possessions, or an estate planner determining who will have what, sitting and listening as persons reflect upon a lifetime, of what truly had meaning and worth. Often these are reminisences of loyalties and trusts. At times, it includes walking into a library or workshop or sewing room, as the other asks, “Does any of this have worth?” Which is not about what the auctioneer might value, but validation of our lives, who and what we have invested ourselves in. Who and what we have been loyal to.

The book of Samuel and Kings turns at this 9th Chapter. Up until this point the nation of Israel, the boy David have been growing, the shepherd boy takes on Goliath, the harp player comes to live in the palace of the King and becomes best friend with Jonathan the King's own son and heir. Nations go to war, and children become adult in worries far too quickly. Long years transpire, and David is settled as the King of one nation reunited after Civil War. There are those, who believe the Old Testament is a book of War and the New Testament a book of Peace... this morning's passages turns that on it's head, as David seeks restoration and reconciliation of one who lost everything; while Jesus takes on his host and fellow guests to outdo one another in humility.

In the course of a lifetime, and the course of battle, David has done a great deal he is not proud of. In the war for who would lead the nation, David was pitted against the greatest warrior in the History of Israel : King Saul, and against Saul's son Jonathan, and all Jonathan's brothers and all their generals. In the deathly quiet after the war cries have ended, with the smells of battle and death hanging in the air, David suddenly remembers his commitments of 35 years before, when he and Jonathan, the son of Saul, had been best of friends, and David questions , “Is there anybody left, anyone who could claim relation to Saul and Jonathan?”

Imagine the story 15 years before. It was the midst of Civil war, rumors of terrorists had been circulating, whole neighborhoods had been destroyed, the king's family had been anxiously waiting n hiding for any word. In the dark of the middle of the night, word comes that you have to get out, you have to get into hiding. The guerilla army of mercenaries is coming. No one will be left, take whatever is of value. They take up children in their arms, then begin grabbing for memories, what will be important, what can we not live without. There is too much to hold, there is no time, they are coming to destroy us. When suddenly someone trips and falls, and among all that had been in her arms, that which cushions her fall was the baby. His legs are crushed, his screams are incessant, but there is no time, we have to go, we have to hide. For the next 15 years they live in hiding, always on the outskirts, always running, running from being killed. The infant, whose legs were crippled has acquired a name, Mephibosheth, Prince of SHAME.

One afternoon, as every able body was out working, there is a cloud of dust on the horizon, as they come closer, the cloud is made out to be warriors on horseback, and the flag they are carrying, the colors are those of the New King, David, who had led an army against your grandfather and your father. They now were dead, as were all your uncles, and all their generals, and all who could protect. All your life, you had been in hiding, your legs are broken and twisted, you can run no more. There is a pounding on the door, and they drag you out and take you. Filthy dirty, covered in rags, you are brought to the palace that should have been your home. The palace of your father and grandfather, the palace of the King. You cannot stand on your own, and two soldiers march you before this enemy upon the throne. They let you go, and you crumple before the King, unable to stand. You feel lower than low, less than a dead dog. When this king describes he and your father had been best of friends. He wanted to HONOR his LOYALTY to your father, his friend, by restoring you. Crippled and In-valid, this ALL POWERFUL ONE, claimed you as a son of the King, with a perpetual place at the Table.

That is LOYALTY, that is what HESED is all about. There may have been enemies, there may have been war, others may see you as “less than”, as crippled, but still you have a place at the TABLE, you are a son of the King.

After 35 years of marriage, the commitments that were shared, the words recited, have grown to mean something far different.There are often places we feel wounded, this other has seen us in all our humility and humanity, and still they are LOYAL, with NO RESERVATIONS.

In a culture that believes, each of us should try to be first, to be best, to win. Jesus establishes this wonderful comedy, of guests at a dinner, trying to take the owest place, in order to be recognized and brought up higher.

In the book THE DIFFERENT DRUM, Scott Peck tells the wonderful story of an old monastery. The times have not been gracious and things are pretty much falling apart. realizing their desperation, the Abbott finally goes to see his long time friend the Old Rabbi. He explains that the number of priests is becoming increasingly few, they rarely have visitors, and the old Monastery is in terrible ruins. Before leaving, The Rabbi ffers a prophetic word, saying to his friend, I know from a dream, that among you is the Messiah sent from God. The Abbott, takes this word back to the others. The next several days they each begin thinking and praying about this, wondering which it might be. For fear of not recognizing the Messiah and treating him graciously, they begin outdoing one another n graciousness. In the weeks that follow, there are picnicers on the grounds of the Monastery, who observe the Monks treating eachother which such kindness and hospitality, and they are impressed. They begin coming more freequently, seeking the monks for counseling and prayer. As the Monastery becomes more and more popular, hey begin making repairs. One day, the Rabbi stops to see he Abbott, and the Abbott gathers up his curiousity to ask, and good friend, which of us is the Messiah? And the rabbi retirted, I did not say one of you was the Messiah, but that the Messiah was among you.