It has been a good weekend. We had a chance to worship with a small Presbyterian Church Alpine Presbyterian on Sunday. The text was from Mark 8, the story of the disciples wondering where the next meal would be after they had just witnessed the feeding of the 4000. Jesus asks "Do you not yet understand?" The preacher challenged us to hear those words as words spoken to us. And he used several grandchildren stories to illustrate that sometimes a child's faith can be the most profound faith: "Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." (Mark 11:15) Then of course we went to Stuart and Megan's house to eat and hangout with the grandchildren. It was a good day.
Of course, it set the scene for my readings on Monday and Tuesday from N. Graham Standish's book "Humble Leadership: Being Radically Open to God's Guidance and Grace". As I am starting to write about Trinitarian leadership as leadership that seek unity in the midst of diversity, his chapter on "Unifying Leadership" was particularly insightful. Standish talked about the divisiveness of the culture in which we live. And he is right, whether you are talking religion, politics, generations or sports. His book is particularly tough on us Baby Boomers who he characterizes as "an individualist generation". He challenges us to think communally about what is good for the whole. "Humble leadership is unifying leadership. Unifying leaders lead people to seek a common good that is rooted in God's good. They are called to put aside their own desires for power, control and dominance and to seek what is good for everyone." (p. 92) He also talks about how we have to embrace 1 Corinthians 12 description of the diversity of the body of Christ in our leadership. "This is a profound statement, because it emphasizes that everyone, even one with whom we completely disagree, has a part in the life of the church. It also suggests that healthy leaders unify that body, finding a way to help all body parts work together." (p. 107-108)
Standish does not suggest that we can do the work of unifying the body of Christ by sheer will or force of personality. Instead he challenges humble, unifying leaders to rely on the Holy Spirit to find this unity. "To grow the member of the church, we leaders have to help the members remember that we are to seek unity in the Spirit. It isn't enough to be unified; we need to form a sort of divine union with each other and with God through the power of the Holy Spirit." Standish is restating what theologican Jurgen Moltmann says in "The Trinity and the Kingdom" when he challenges us to know that our unity, real unity cannot rest in us but is always a unity that is build around Christ by the Holy Spirit. Standish summarizes the principles of unifing leadership as: calling to live out our faith; grounding in God, relationships and humility; and binding to God and each other.
1 comment:
Eph. 4:1-3 also suggests humility and unity in our callings...
"I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
In my mind this fits well with the final sentence of your post.
The pictures you chose are interesting. In one picture is a path that is obvious and hard-surfaced, along with significant guidance on both sides to stay on the path.
Another picture has no clear path across the grass, and no apparent way to go straight across the lake.
In which setting is the humble leader most likely to be found, and why?
I'm not sure if it's related, but the one picture seems to have "walls" on each side of the path, while the other has no walls (unless the lake itself is a boundary). Sometimes God has people building walls (Nehemiah) and sometimes they are to be torn down (Joshua).
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