Leading as Loving
Sermon
ORDINARY PEOPLE, EXTRAORDINARY GOD
Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost
Leadership is constantly being sought. The issue is neither academic nor boring because leadership is almost always pivotal. For this reason, schools, families, corporations, service clubs, governmental bodies are all perpetually in a search for capable leadership.
So is the church. Every year nominating committees in churches sit down and attempt to identify and enlist potential leaders. And that is a crucial task. The decisions they make can mean dynamic movement or inertia. I have been in churches where inept leadership has meant board meetings that drag on into the night; I have also been in churches where skilled leadership translated into meetings that covered immense ground within reasonable periods of time. If you have ever sat in on a trustee's meeting where half an hour was spent talking about whether or not to purchase a five dollar item, you know firsthand about the longing for gifted leadership.
Second Samuel's story of David's ascent to kingship is an important historical development in biblical history, but it is also a source of clues regarding the nature of effective leadership.
From the People
"We are your own flesh and blood," declare the tribes of Israel to David. (2 Samuel 5:1 TEV) Leadership with whom the people can identify makes all the difference in the world. There is something winsome about a president like Harry Truman who clearly was not affected by what he termed the "job" he had in Washington. His unassuming nature is reflected in some lines from Samuel Gallu's play, Give 'em Hell Harry. He has the President say,
I never saw myself as President. I was just in the right place at the wrong time. Lots of folks could do a better job, but it became mine to do, and as long as you put me here, you'll get the best I've got. I've always thought of myself as an ordinary man. I don't have any special endowments, and I don't waste time worrying about what I don't have. I just try to do the best with what I do have. I've always felt it's not important how you do something or say it; the point is to get it said and done.
Occasionally producers have given us a movie centering around the theme of a runaway train. Initially, the engine is firmly linked to the cars it is pulling, but something like a jammed throttle enters the picture and the runaway engine is separated from the rest of the train and rushes headlong down the track toward certain disaster.
When leadership becomes radically disjointed from the body from which it has emerged, that also can be potentially disastrous. To lead does not mean to ride roughshod over, to insulate oneself from or to create a moat and pull up the drawbridge. Leadership listens and consults. When that does not happen, we begin to see events like the recent, and ultimately tragic, student revolt that rocked China.
Kurt Lewin extensively studied the dynamics of leadership and wrote about the "authoritarian" leader, the "laissez-faire" leader and the "democratic" leader. Alvin Lindgren, in summarizing Lewin's findings, wrote:
"Authoritarian" leadership evoked either a passive "rubber stamp" acceptance or hostile aggressive opposition. "Laissez-faire" leadership likewise proved frustrating and ineffective, both in accomplishing the task of the group and in providing good internal relationships. The performance of the "democratic leader" was superior in task achievement and personal relationships as well.
(Foundations for Purposeful Church Administration, p. 168)
Over the years I have known ministers who have chosen to view their parishes as feudal estates over which they reign. The style of leadership they have embraced is of the authoritarian variety and the imprint of their own biases has been felt in every sector of congregational life, even including the kind of music a bride and groom should have for their wedding.
A good leader is always from the people, and to become insensitive to or forget that, is to take one giant step toward undermining one's own leadership.
A Covenant with the People
Leadership is also a covenant with the people. "He made a sacred alliance with them, they anointed him, and he became king of Israel." (2 Samuel 5:3 TEV) Specifically, it is a covenant to serve. Leadership linked to the purposes of God is always an invitation to serve. Leaders do not see themselves as better or brighter than the led; rather, they view themselves as those with the gifts of organization and vision that enable them to lead a group from one point to another.
Years ago I distinctly remember being part of a large wedding party where the rehearsal was nothing short of a disaster. And if there is any place where you need a leader it is at a wedding rehearsal! When that leadership is not present, the rehearsal can easily degenerate into a free-for-all akin to a square dance where a committee is calling the dance.
The officiating minister apparently came to the rehearsal minus a plan, and from start to finish it was a cacophonous mess. The mother of the bride would pull him in one direction, then a bridesmaid in another. In short order, they had him drawn and quartered, and what should have taken forty-five minutes, took nearly two hours.
It didn't need to be that way. There was no reason why the minister couldn't have organized the rehearsal in such a way that all could have been heard, with the responsibility for final decisions resting squarely upon the bride and groom. That's what leadership is all about -- helping a group move from one point to another in a fair, well-oiled manner. To enable that is to serve. It is a gift always sorely needed in the body of Christ.
Involved with the People
"The time came when King David and his men set out ..." (2 Samuel 5:6 TEV) Too, leadership is a partnership in which both the leader and the led roll up their sleeves and get to work.
One dark evening I was having trouble finding an address and so pulled into an abandoned gas station, pulled a map out of the glove compartment, and tried to find it. As I was searching, a police car pulled up behind me. The officer asked if he could help; I explained my problem and he not only told me where to find the address, but indicated he would lead me directly to it.
That's a very simple illustration of involved leadership. A good leader delegates, but delegation does not mean abandonment or withdrawal.
Long before some of the creative Japanese managerial styles came to this country, I worked for a large corporation as a summer employee. In that company the pecking order was very clear. The folks to whom I reported were foremen and they in turn reported to a man who was called "the supervisor." The only time I had any significant contact with "the supervisor" was on an occasion when I had neglected to wear safety gloves, cut my hand, and was asked to discuss my transgression with "the supervisor." At least as we lower-level employees saw it, the supervisors were removed from the rank and file and that was even true during coffee breaks and lunch hours. They ate at one table and we ate at another.
Enlightened leadership, at least in the church if nowhere else, rubs elbows with anyone and everyone. Leadership is not a "from on high" proposition; it is a grass roots undertaking.
The story is told about an old man who promised to give each of his ten children 100 gold coins on the day of his death. It happened that as his death approached, his resources were less than he had hoped they would be. The first nine came forward, embraced their father and received 100 gold coins. When it came to the youngest son, the father asked the others to leave and said to the last son, "My son I have terrible news. Though I have been able to give each of your brothers and sisters 100 gold coins, I have but twenty for you." The youngest protested, "Father if you knew this, why did you not make adjustments with all of your children?"
The father responded, "It is better that I keep my word to as many as possible. Although I cannot give you as many gold coins as I promised, I can give you my greatest treasure. In addition to the twenty coins which I have for you, I offer you my ten closest companions. Their friendship is worth more than all the gold I have ever possessed. I urge you to treat them kindly." With that, the man died.
When the period of mourning had ended, the nine took extended vacations. The youngest remained home and was deeply disappointed. When the young man paid off his debts, he had only four coins left. Feeling obligated, he spent the last four on a dinner for his father's ten closest friends.
When the meal was over, the old men said to each other, "This is the only child who treats us with kindness. Let us return his affection."
The next day each of the ten sent two cattle and a small purse of money to the youngest son. Some of the old men provided assistance in breeding the cattle. Soon he had a huge herd. Others of the ten offered advice on investments. And it was not long before the youngest son had greater wealth than his nine siblings. Above his desk the young man wrote these words: "Friendship is of more value than gold." (William R. White. Stories For Telling, pp. 130-131) Good leadership works like that; it invests itself in those led and the process yields abundant fruit.
Accountable to God
The story of David's ascent to power ends with this comment, "He grew stronger all the time, because the Lord God Almighty was with him." (2 Samuel 5:10 TEV)
Accountability in leadership is absolutely essential. Accountability to those being led and to God. Very clearly God plays a significant role in David's leadership, and so must God in our leading, too.
It comes down, I think, to this: Wherever Christian people are leading -- in the congregation, the university, the professional organization, or in elected political office -- the question ever before them must be this: Will God, as I conceive of God, be pleased with the decisions and strategies I am employing, and will these further kingdom values?
Bayard Taylor, a poet from the last century, put it well:
Who, harnessed in his mail of Self, demands
To be men's master and their sovereign guide?
Proclaims his place, and by sole right of pride
A candidate for love and reverence stands,
As if the power within his empty hands
Had fallen from the sky, with all beside,
So oft to longing and to toil denied,
That makes the leaders and the lords of lands?
He who would lead must first himself be led;
Who would be loved be capable to love
Beyond the utmost he receives, who claims
The rod of power must first have bowed
And being honored, honor what's above.
This know the men who leave the world their names.
(James Dalton Morrison, Masterpieces of Religious Verse, p. 303)
Leading is yet another manifestation of loving; it is a gift we employ in the service of our sisters and brothers.
So is the church. Every year nominating committees in churches sit down and attempt to identify and enlist potential leaders. And that is a crucial task. The decisions they make can mean dynamic movement or inertia. I have been in churches where inept leadership has meant board meetings that drag on into the night; I have also been in churches where skilled leadership translated into meetings that covered immense ground within reasonable periods of time. If you have ever sat in on a trustee's meeting where half an hour was spent talking about whether or not to purchase a five dollar item, you know firsthand about the longing for gifted leadership.
Second Samuel's story of David's ascent to kingship is an important historical development in biblical history, but it is also a source of clues regarding the nature of effective leadership.
From the People
"We are your own flesh and blood," declare the tribes of Israel to David. (2 Samuel 5:1 TEV) Leadership with whom the people can identify makes all the difference in the world. There is something winsome about a president like Harry Truman who clearly was not affected by what he termed the "job" he had in Washington. His unassuming nature is reflected in some lines from Samuel Gallu's play, Give 'em Hell Harry. He has the President say,
I never saw myself as President. I was just in the right place at the wrong time. Lots of folks could do a better job, but it became mine to do, and as long as you put me here, you'll get the best I've got. I've always thought of myself as an ordinary man. I don't have any special endowments, and I don't waste time worrying about what I don't have. I just try to do the best with what I do have. I've always felt it's not important how you do something or say it; the point is to get it said and done.
Occasionally producers have given us a movie centering around the theme of a runaway train. Initially, the engine is firmly linked to the cars it is pulling, but something like a jammed throttle enters the picture and the runaway engine is separated from the rest of the train and rushes headlong down the track toward certain disaster.
When leadership becomes radically disjointed from the body from which it has emerged, that also can be potentially disastrous. To lead does not mean to ride roughshod over, to insulate oneself from or to create a moat and pull up the drawbridge. Leadership listens and consults. When that does not happen, we begin to see events like the recent, and ultimately tragic, student revolt that rocked China.
Kurt Lewin extensively studied the dynamics of leadership and wrote about the "authoritarian" leader, the "laissez-faire" leader and the "democratic" leader. Alvin Lindgren, in summarizing Lewin's findings, wrote:
"Authoritarian" leadership evoked either a passive "rubber stamp" acceptance or hostile aggressive opposition. "Laissez-faire" leadership likewise proved frustrating and ineffective, both in accomplishing the task of the group and in providing good internal relationships. The performance of the "democratic leader" was superior in task achievement and personal relationships as well.
(Foundations for Purposeful Church Administration, p. 168)
Over the years I have known ministers who have chosen to view their parishes as feudal estates over which they reign. The style of leadership they have embraced is of the authoritarian variety and the imprint of their own biases has been felt in every sector of congregational life, even including the kind of music a bride and groom should have for their wedding.
A good leader is always from the people, and to become insensitive to or forget that, is to take one giant step toward undermining one's own leadership.
A Covenant with the People
Leadership is also a covenant with the people. "He made a sacred alliance with them, they anointed him, and he became king of Israel." (2 Samuel 5:3 TEV) Specifically, it is a covenant to serve. Leadership linked to the purposes of God is always an invitation to serve. Leaders do not see themselves as better or brighter than the led; rather, they view themselves as those with the gifts of organization and vision that enable them to lead a group from one point to another.
Years ago I distinctly remember being part of a large wedding party where the rehearsal was nothing short of a disaster. And if there is any place where you need a leader it is at a wedding rehearsal! When that leadership is not present, the rehearsal can easily degenerate into a free-for-all akin to a square dance where a committee is calling the dance.
The officiating minister apparently came to the rehearsal minus a plan, and from start to finish it was a cacophonous mess. The mother of the bride would pull him in one direction, then a bridesmaid in another. In short order, they had him drawn and quartered, and what should have taken forty-five minutes, took nearly two hours.
It didn't need to be that way. There was no reason why the minister couldn't have organized the rehearsal in such a way that all could have been heard, with the responsibility for final decisions resting squarely upon the bride and groom. That's what leadership is all about -- helping a group move from one point to another in a fair, well-oiled manner. To enable that is to serve. It is a gift always sorely needed in the body of Christ.
Involved with the People
"The time came when King David and his men set out ..." (2 Samuel 5:6 TEV) Too, leadership is a partnership in which both the leader and the led roll up their sleeves and get to work.
One dark evening I was having trouble finding an address and so pulled into an abandoned gas station, pulled a map out of the glove compartment, and tried to find it. As I was searching, a police car pulled up behind me. The officer asked if he could help; I explained my problem and he not only told me where to find the address, but indicated he would lead me directly to it.
That's a very simple illustration of involved leadership. A good leader delegates, but delegation does not mean abandonment or withdrawal.
Long before some of the creative Japanese managerial styles came to this country, I worked for a large corporation as a summer employee. In that company the pecking order was very clear. The folks to whom I reported were foremen and they in turn reported to a man who was called "the supervisor." The only time I had any significant contact with "the supervisor" was on an occasion when I had neglected to wear safety gloves, cut my hand, and was asked to discuss my transgression with "the supervisor." At least as we lower-level employees saw it, the supervisors were removed from the rank and file and that was even true during coffee breaks and lunch hours. They ate at one table and we ate at another.
Enlightened leadership, at least in the church if nowhere else, rubs elbows with anyone and everyone. Leadership is not a "from on high" proposition; it is a grass roots undertaking.
The story is told about an old man who promised to give each of his ten children 100 gold coins on the day of his death. It happened that as his death approached, his resources were less than he had hoped they would be. The first nine came forward, embraced their father and received 100 gold coins. When it came to the youngest son, the father asked the others to leave and said to the last son, "My son I have terrible news. Though I have been able to give each of your brothers and sisters 100 gold coins, I have but twenty for you." The youngest protested, "Father if you knew this, why did you not make adjustments with all of your children?"
The father responded, "It is better that I keep my word to as many as possible. Although I cannot give you as many gold coins as I promised, I can give you my greatest treasure. In addition to the twenty coins which I have for you, I offer you my ten closest companions. Their friendship is worth more than all the gold I have ever possessed. I urge you to treat them kindly." With that, the man died.
When the period of mourning had ended, the nine took extended vacations. The youngest remained home and was deeply disappointed. When the young man paid off his debts, he had only four coins left. Feeling obligated, he spent the last four on a dinner for his father's ten closest friends.
When the meal was over, the old men said to each other, "This is the only child who treats us with kindness. Let us return his affection."
The next day each of the ten sent two cattle and a small purse of money to the youngest son. Some of the old men provided assistance in breeding the cattle. Soon he had a huge herd. Others of the ten offered advice on investments. And it was not long before the youngest son had greater wealth than his nine siblings. Above his desk the young man wrote these words: "Friendship is of more value than gold." (William R. White. Stories For Telling, pp. 130-131) Good leadership works like that; it invests itself in those led and the process yields abundant fruit.
Accountable to God
The story of David's ascent to power ends with this comment, "He grew stronger all the time, because the Lord God Almighty was with him." (2 Samuel 5:10 TEV)
Accountability in leadership is absolutely essential. Accountability to those being led and to God. Very clearly God plays a significant role in David's leadership, and so must God in our leading, too.
It comes down, I think, to this: Wherever Christian people are leading -- in the congregation, the university, the professional organization, or in elected political office -- the question ever before them must be this: Will God, as I conceive of God, be pleased with the decisions and strategies I am employing, and will these further kingdom values?
Bayard Taylor, a poet from the last century, put it well:
Who, harnessed in his mail of Self, demands
To be men's master and their sovereign guide?
Proclaims his place, and by sole right of pride
A candidate for love and reverence stands,
As if the power within his empty hands
Had fallen from the sky, with all beside,
So oft to longing and to toil denied,
That makes the leaders and the lords of lands?
He who would lead must first himself be led;
Who would be loved be capable to love
Beyond the utmost he receives, who claims
The rod of power must first have bowed
And being honored, honor what's above.
This know the men who leave the world their names.
(James Dalton Morrison, Masterpieces of Religious Verse, p. 303)
Leading is yet another manifestation of loving; it is a gift we employ in the service of our sisters and brothers.
