Instead of thinking of
leadership as the sole privilege of the “person in charge,” I have suggested
that we look for leadership opportunities in the many different roles that we
have. For instance, leadership should
include the role of parents with their children; the role of older siblings
with their younger brothers and sisters; the role of schoolchildren on the
playground or the classroom; the way we conduct ourselves at work; the way we
treat our neighbors; the way we treat those who are marginalized and suffer
from a lack of housing, food, or medical care; and the way in which we engage
other members of society. When we
broaden our view of leadership to include the possibilities that exist in our
various roles and relationships, then it is clear that God calls all of us to
be leaders much of the time in our various roles.
As we conclude this series
on leadership, there are two remaining topics which need to addressed:
1. Coping
with the sometimes overwhelming challenges of Christian leadership and the persistent
fears that we are inadequate to meet those challenges.
2. Recognizing
and embracing the possibilities that Christian leadership presents for
spiritual growth.
To address these two remaining topics, I have
chosen Isaiah 6: 1-8 as my foundational
scripture this week. This passage
contains the story of how Isaiah was called to become a prophetic leader of the
Hebrew people. This passage has remarkable
parallels with similar scriptural passages that describe how God other leaders,
including Moss (Exodus 3:1 –4:17), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1: 4-10), and Ezekiel (Ezekiel
1-3). Together, with these and other
scriptures, Isaiah 6: 1-8 forms a
special genre of Biblical literature, called “vocation” or “call”
passages.
In his analysis of Isaiah
1-39, the biblical scholar Gene Tucker notes:
“Since prophets in
Israel had no ‘official’ standing comparable to that of, for example, priests,
their right to speak in the name of the Lord was open to question. The vocation reports were their responses to
such challenges. They [prophets] were
not only entitled but also compelled to speak because God had called them to do
so; they had not sought their role [as prophets], but it had been thrust upon
them.”[i]
Isaiah experiences his call in the form of a
vision. In this vision, Isaiah finds
himself in a strange place with unreal, six-winged creatures, which he calls “seraphs.”
As the vision unfolds,
Isaiah orients himself and realizes that he is in the Holy Temple in God’s
awesome presence. When Isaiah begins to
fully appreciate where he is—and, whom he is with—he becomes overwhelmed with
feelings of inadequacy. Isaiah says, “Woe
is me! I am lost [dead], for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a
people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (v.
5)
But, Isaiah is not
dead. One of the seraphs flies to him
with a burning goal from the altar. The
seraph touches the burning goal to Isaiah’s mouth. This act has the effect of purifying Isaiah,
as the seraph explains when it says: “Now
that this [burning coal] has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and
your sin is blotted out.” (v. 7)
Just then, Isaiah hears
the voice of God, saying: “Whom shall I
send and who will go for us?” Now, that
Isaiah has been prepared through the purification by the burning coal, he
willing volunteers to become God’s prophet, as he says: “Here am I; send me!” (v. 8)
Just as Isaiah felt
overwhelmed, so also most of us, at one point or another, feel overwhelmed by
feelings of inadequacy when it comes to being a Christian leader:
a. As
elected church leaders, we may feel overwhelmed by our inadequacies when faced
with difficult challenges in leading a committee, work group, or entire
congregation.
b. As
parents and grandparents, we may feel overwhelmed by the complexities of
leading our children and grandchildren through the challenges posed by
contemporary American culture.
c. As
neighbors or employees, we may feel completely overwhelmed by a difficult
neighbor or co-worker whom it seems is impossible to please.
Isaiah overcame his feelings of inadequacy when he
was purified by the seraph. For Isaiah
this purification with the burning coal gave him confidence that he was not
acting alone. Instead, Isaiah recognized
that he was acting on behalf of God, as God’s servant. God would use Isaiah the servant as a channel
for God’s own message and God’s own actions.
When Isaiah discerned that he was not alone in his role as a prophetic
leader, then his feelings of inadequacy for the task evaporated into thin air.
In
the New Testament, the Apostle Paul uses a different metaphor to express the
same conviction; that God is working with us and through us. In 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this
treasure in earthen jars, so that it may be made clear [to us] that this
extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.” Regardless of how overwhelming our feelings
of inadequacy in the face of leadership challenges, this despair will surely
evaporate into thin air, when we decide that, instead of relying solely on our
own abilities, we will trust God to work through us as Christian leaders.
Similarly,
when we open ourselves as Christian leaders to God, then Christian leadership
becomes an avenue through which we experience an authentic spirituality. Human persons are constituted by this
fascinating synergy of different dimensions which converge within us, playing
off of and interacting with each other.
These dimensions include the physical, the rational, the emotional, the
social, and the spiritual. By spiritual, I mean that dimension
of who we are that strives for relationship and connection with the
Divine. I believe that God intends for
us to enter into a growing relationship with the Divine, which draws us into a
closer and closer and more intimate connection.
However, human persons do not necessarily grow closer to God. Our shortcomings and guilt may block our
ability to enter into relationship with the Divine.
In
Isaiah’s vision, he verbalizes his feelings of guilt so powerfully when he
exclaims, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live
among a people of unclean lips. …” Yet,
this despair and inadequacy brought on by his sense of guilt and unworthiness
also presents an obstacle in Isaiah’s relationship with the Divine. His purification through the seraph’s burning
coal not only purifies and prepares him for prophetic leadership, it also opens
and enhances the spiritual dimension of his very being.
In
the spiritual dimension of leadership, our commitment as Christian leaders
should facilitate spiritual growth – and (vice versa) our spiritual growth as
Christians should inform and enhance our leadership. That is to say, when we provide Christian
leadership through our roles and relationships, that leadership experience
should also help us to grow spiritually closer to the Divine. There’s a synergy here.
Come, join us this Sunday (October 25th), as we conclude
our exploration of Christian leadership by exploring the spiritual dimension of
leadership. Christ United Methodist
Church, is located at 4530 A Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our classic worship services are at 8:30 and
11:00 on Sunday mornings.
Everyone is welcome and accepted
because God loves us all.
[i]
Gene Tucker, “Commentary on Isaiah 1-39,” in the New Interpreter’s Bible, 2002, accessed on CD-ROM.
"Instead of relying solely on our own abilities, we will trust God to work through us." Well said. We have to care much more about what God thinks than about what we think are other people's expectations of us.
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