Leadership

You are not indispensable.

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16And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.  19So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.    John 5:16-19

 

In University I got sick- mono! I remember feeling really terrible about it because of how I was letting people down. My campus minister, Ron Little, tried to give me some perspective but it wasn’t working. So he said, “Craig, go home, put your thumb in a bucket of water and if it leaves a hole in the water, come back and tell me.” Humbling. Yet even then, it took me a while to comprehend what Ron was telling me!

 

Sometimes we can have an over-blown sense of just how much everybody else needs us. We believe we are indispensable. Its a problem for leaders because it cuts two ways: this attitude will ruin us and it will ruin the people we serve. Its the death of humility. Its the death of delegation and genuine empowerment.

 

Jesus is extraordinarily necessary for our salvation. And yet, he maintained humility, and the capacity to empower others. He knew who He was because He knew His Heavenly Father. And of His Heavenly Father, Jesus says, “He is always working!” and “I’m only doing what I see my Heavenly Father doing.”

 

For mission and for life its essential for us to remember: before you and I showed up on the scene God was working. If we begin to believe that its all up to us and that we are God’s answer for humanity’s brokenness, our mission can become our idol. We will  become a distraction with our sense of heroics, pointing people to us rather than to Jesus. We will become disappointed, angry, and bitter.  Jesus is familiar with the our problem, but it was not His problem. Jesus only saw His work through the lens of His Heavenly Father.

 

The remedy for our overblown sense of requirement is to look again to Jesus and tell  Him, “I’m available today to be a part of what you are doing.”

 

Reflections on The Cup Song in Gaeilge

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The Cup Song! In Gaeilge in Northern Ireland. This is a celebration of the recovery of language. Once forbidden in the North, the language is enjoying a revival. Its a language I have never spoken. Though having driven the coast of Ireland twenty years ago I heard it and entered villages that had little English. And I just about fell out of my chair when my cousins came in from a night of cards and music and said, “It was good craic!”

The revival of language is not without its politics and complications. In Canada we surely shall grieve the loss of First Nations languages. And around the world, languages are dying. When a language dies, knowledge dies too. Embodied in the language are ways of knowing the world, stories and culture. As a follower of Jesus I am able to rejoice in the revival of language and the knowledge and even the identity contained within it. Common grace.

I had a lunch with a friend last week. He shared of his spiritual journey. He said something like this: “When I started with Jesus God spoke to me only in English. But now he speaks to me in Japanese.”  I’m really happy about this. The heart. God speaks the languages of the heart. John’s vision given by God is of a great celebration of Jesus by people from all nations, peoples and languages.

Having said that, it must be noted that in the politics of language, culture, and identity do require wisdom, truth and grace. There is so much pain there. Although we can study it, we need the grace of God to move into reconciled relationships and even to assist in the recovery of languages and the rebuilding of peoples. I don’t know how to do this so I am thankful for those who are studying and labouring at it. Who else will sing the cup song?

More than that I find myself wondering, “Who else will be singing the  Salvation Song before the Lamb?

9After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15“Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Revelations 7:9-17

All that you study.

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All that you study

16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Colossians 1:16-20

All that we study has its roots in the creative work of God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all engaged in Creation. All that we study, macro and micro, has had the creative imprint of Jesus in it. Much of what we study has been infected with the ripples of the Great Catastrophe. However, the redemption of all things and our relationships for the glory of God, is the work of Jesus and His church. So our study, so our work, must be saturated with this awareness: all that we study has its origin in Christ.

“All things were create through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church.”

Observable

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Observable

Christian leadership, specifically discipleship, is meant to be done in such a way that our life in the grace of Jesus is meant to be observable. Jesus had a circle of friends who could observe his life. Paul had a circle of friends who could observe his life. These were invited in and challenged. Timothy while in Ephesus received a letter from Paul in which Paul challenges him to pursue this pattern of life:

12Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1 Timothy 4:12-16

Is your progress observable? By anyone? What adjustments would be required in your life for at least a few others to see your progress and journey with you?

This is the disciple-makers challenge!

Still Going

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Permanent.

I’m thankful to live in a place with four season! Watching the cycle of life so clearly is a good reminder. In my garden the tomatoes are almost done. My zucchini finished, days ago. Its time to put in some winter greens.

Leadership too has its cycles.

When I listen to leaders at a transition point I hear their yearning for a legacy. Leave a legacy. This can be problematic. The prophet Isaiah was confronted with legacies that were not all that great. In fact he lamented the destruction of his nation. So God brings their attention to what is truly permanent.

Isaiah 40:6-8
6A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

When the music fades… the word of our God will stand forever.
Christian leadership points to the lasting word of God and creates environments where disciples can build their lives on God’s Word.