Leadership = Servanthood

What does leadership mean? Doesn't mean having power and authority to command; to determine the fates of others and to enforce ideologies at all costs? Doesn't mean being the popular guy and having a charismatic personality that stir the hearts of men and swoon those of women? Is it the one who bears vast depths of intelligence and can solve the hardest of inter-dimensional equations and explain why all of star trek and Dr. Who are improbable? Surely, these may be leaders, or at least given the title of "leader", but it is not
"leadership."

Leadership is service. It is putting one's self last and putting others first. It is taking the strengths, intelligence, charismatic speech, and wisdom for the sake of the whole rather than personal gain. It means sticking your neck out, making the hard decisions, taking risks, and much much more. The key is serving.

Like a captain that goes down with his ship, a leader doesn't bail in a disaster when there are other in his care still on board the sinking ship. He takes responsibility for the sinking ship, even if it wasn't him that made the mistake. He doesn't point fingers at the previous ship captain and blame him for the ships current state, especially after having had command for 4+ years.

Wait...

Moving on.

In terms of church government, which varies from denomination to denomination (and sometimes church to church) this is all the more true of leadership. Priests, pastors, bishops, archbishops, and popes--these all must take up great responsibility and as they move into higher positions of authority. The higher up, the more they must serve. The more of their time, energy, and gifting is demanded of them by God for the growth of the body. Thus the reason why I support Pope Benedict's decision to step down. His realization that his physical condition kept him from being able to serve the Christian world was greatly hindered caused him to step down to make way for one who could better accomplish this task of servant-hood. It was a great act of humility and honesty in the face of critical world.

In the denomination I currently call my theological home, there is an emphasis on the concept of leadership as servant-hood. Below is a rough diagram of the hierarchy of Anglican leadership. Notice how, unlike traditional diagrams of leadership/hierarchy, the point of the pyramid points down rather than up!

The head is the tail and is considered, though spiritual and theological sound, as well as being of spiritual discipline and maturity, but he is essentially the "least" within the Anglican Church. The people or "laity" are at the top because they are the ones served by all in authority. If we wanted to get really in depth here, we could add another tier at the top entitled "Non-believers", but that's another post entirely.

As are called to disciple, to lead, and, most of all, to serve. Even the laity of the Church is called to serve one another. If all you want to do is show up and get a weekly ego boost then you aren't pleasing God. You're just pleasing your flesh. Christ called us to serve!

Ideally, all of Christiandom would have this type of leadership mindset, but sadly it just isn't the case. Pastors across the world are put on pedestals and idolized. Mega-church pastors and televangelist worldwide are getting caught up in their ego and creativity, forgetting to serve the people in their charge. On the day of judgment, they will be held responsible for their teachings and their actions. For all of God's people that were put in their lives to be served and taught.

Let's go and serve each other and the world. Let's build church that are Christ-centered rather than pastor-centered. Let's remove the Americanized understanding of what a "pastor" or "preacher" is and put some "priests"/elders in charge who can get the job done and serve the people the way God intended.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Of Cars and...Freedom?

I hate riding in other peoples' cars for long periods of time. Not because I love driving, but because I feel trapped and deprived of freedom. Unable to get away...completely at the mercy of my host and his/her musical preference. It is an incredibly frustrating feeling.

There are certain places in this world and certain people that when present I can't help but feel robbed of freedom and individuality. This is sad because I often find that it's my own fault that I lack that freedom; failing to address what feel like intrusions, determine what truly are vialations of space and freedom, and to then speak up against the true intrusions.

Do you have people in your life that leave you feeling robbed of power; of freedom? Are there things that seem miniscule to most but really get under your skin? In what ways do you take action against such feelings?

Grace and Peace,
Stephen

Failing with Community

Last week I was talking to a close friend and he was expressing a great deal of pain over having  lost a job that he put forth a significant amount of effort and time to keep. He refused to tell anyone in the church he was attending or any of his closest friends in the area, save for me, what had happened. There in a car steadily cruising down 4th street, he spilled many bitter tears and he said, "I can't face them...I can't tell them that I failed."

As I sat in the car with him I felt my heart break with him. Sadly, I had not the words to encourage him. In fact, it seemed as though he simply would not hear the words I had to say. Sentences worked their way past my teeth as I tried to share and partake in his burden, to be there with him, but every time  I was thwarted in my attempt at being a friend and member of his community with words of pain that stated "you don't understand!", "I'm not like you, I'm not as smart as you", "I can't let them know, I just can't!", etc. It is not a shocker though. This is a common issue. I've seen this my entire life, and I have often behaved the same way. How do you tell the people you love and respect that you failed? How do you face disappointing those you look up to?

There lies a flaw in our understanding of relationship and community. In fact, the answer to my friend's struggle was simple. He merely had to remember that the ones that he held close in community love him. That's huge! It makes all the difference in the world to remember that the ones we love do love us in return. If they do not love us and respect us, then what reason have we to want to please them? And if they truly love us, then why must we fear their response at our failing?

Failure is an element of life that everyone experiences and every one hates, but not everyone deals with it well. I have personally struggled with the harshness of failure, even though since I was but a child I have struggled and fought to avoid failure. Sadly this left me refusing to partaking in activities or taking risks because of my fear of failure and overwhelming desire to avoid it.

Community-true community- exists as a living organism of relationship and love. This means that community is our primary source of support when we do fail, and if community fails to be there for us in the darkest eras of our lives, then it is a false community. Know and be known-that is the prerogative of community. If we are their for others in their pains, but refuse to share our own then we are knowing but not being known. Community shares the joys and the sufferings of life; not just the joys. If we choose not to share our sufferings with our communities, then we are guilty of denying them the fullness of ourselves in community; we become the wound, the void in that living organism. We deny them the right of knowing us fully, but even worse is the denial of the opportunity to be Christ in our lives!

If my friend could move past his fear and his pride, he could be dwelling in a place of security, safety, and love. Now, don't think I'm being insensitive to my friend. I recognize how hard it is to open up and be vulnerable, and I'm glad that he shared his pain with me! It is important to understand, however, that if he would only reach out to the rest of his community in which he has previously been so intimately connected with, he would experience the healing and support of community that is of Christ; through which Christ would speak to his heart and bring him life, encouragement, and love! I speak from experience in this matter, having refused to turn to others in the midst of darkness. As a result, I suffered more than was necessary and left myself susceptible to prolonged, undue sorrow; discouragement; and loneliness.

Remember, if your community truly loves you then they will want to be there for you! In fact, they might even find themselves hurt by your refusing to share. If they are not willing to be their for you or show you live, then it is time to recognize that you are in a false community and it is time to move on to find a true community of believers.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

"I Confess..."

Silence. As I sit in the pew of a little brick church building on the outskirts of Savannah, GA I bow my head and let the noiselessness of the room fill me. Locked in a state of reflection, I prepare myself to be vulnerable, honest, and totally exposed. A man in robes enters the room and moves past me to the front of the sanctuary. He places a chair in the center of the altar and sits with his back to me; he quietly meditates and lifts his own prayers to heaven.

After a few more moments of reflection, I slowly approach the front. Kneeling just behind the man, I begin sharing the deepest and darkest truths of my soul in spoken prayer to God. As I render unto God all the sickness of my heart and soul that I can muster out of my memory, the man bears witness to my confession of sin. Then I speak the words signifying that I was finished and robed priest answers in response that I am forgive all my sins. After some words of encouragement, he leaves me to pray in silence as long as my heart would desire. After a time I took my leave, feeling like the weight of the world had been taken off my shoulders and full of life. And thus ended my first experience in participating in a formal confession.

I was very nervous about doing a confession, but it was something that been on my soul to do for quite some time. While I know there are many of my friends and family who will be quite taken aback by my having done this, I believe that it was something impressed upon me by the Holy Spirit to do. So in the confidence that my honesty would be kept secret (and that it was something I need to do) I let my heart pour out and I showed no restraint. In that prayer I spoke of things that I had shared with no living thing.

I know that many will argue about the theology of confessing to a priest, and that's all good-just leave your opinion in the comment section below. I'm writing to share my experience, not to convince anyone of it theologically. Even if you don't believe that it is a necessity to confess to a priest (or pastor, if you're into that sorta thing), you will never know the beauty and relief of having shared your sins with another human being and being accepted regardless of your darkness.

The beauty of going before someone of greater spiritual maturity who has devoted his life to caring for the souls of humanity and sharing the deepest and darkest parts of your being. To stand before God together like a child going before his father to tell him about the window he broke; having his older brother right there beside him to encourage him. And then having both the father and the brother hold him and say "all is forgiven. Let's go fix that window!" That is the beauty and glory of confession.

From this I find relief. Not only in knowing that I have been accepted and given grace by a spiritual director, but also the reality of God's acceptance and love by extent. In seeing that in a human being, I was able to walk in greater certainty of God's forgiveness and grace! In turn I believe I now have a better understanding of humanity and greater capacity for showing grace to fellow humans.

This is my experience and I am incredibly grateful that I yielded myself to the Spirit's leading despite the discomfort and difficulty that I faced in doing so.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Why I Defended a Muslim

I recently wrote a post about Christians being racist and today I got to see the evils of such a reality on a very real and personal level. As I have mentioned before, I once spent a summer in the Middle East and while I was there I taught English to locals.

I have the privilege of still being in contact with many of my students, and I get to have conversations with them from time to time. Today, one of my former students posted a picture that contained a quote from the Qu'ran concerning the Trinity and the divinity of Christ. I had decided that I might respond to this and explain first that Christian belief in the Trinity is in fact a monotheistic belief. Before I could even start writing my comment I had my attention stolen at the site of a comment from that said student asking "what is a durka?"

My stomach dropped and I frantically began reading the other comments. I was hit with an overwhelming feeling of disbelief as I read the comments of these two men that raged against him and made comment after comment loaded with racism, poison, and ignorance. I left a comment for my friend and asked him to forgive the two racists for their comments and for being so blatantly disrespectful. Next thing I knew I found myself defending my Muslim friend against these supposedly "Christian" individuals.

Where ever there is hatred, ignorance, persecution, darkness, or chaos we must stand up and say "NO! This is NOT permissible!"

If I come across a Christian attacking anyone for the color, ethnicity, or religion I will ALWAYS stand up AGAINST them. This is NOT Christ-like in any way, shape, or form! This is evil and ungodly! It is taking the name of God upon oneself in utter vanity and misrepresents the Holy One. It is an affront to the Gospel and worthy of wrath and ruin! Lest they repent, God will most certainly silence them Himself.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself! These things are neither love nor service to God or man! What I saw today was the darkness of humanity and the evils that even those who claim Christ are capable of conjuring. They attacked an innocent man and counted him a murderer and a villain. They struck him with their words and sought to deprive him of dignity and value over his religious devotion. May Christ have mercy on them and forgive them!

God, forgive ALL of us for all of our foolishness and for all we do that dishonors Your Name and leads men astray! Correct Your children and makes us more like You and let us be found above reproach; that we would be Light where there is Darkness, Truth where there is Deceit, Knowledge where there is Ignorance, Peace where their is Chaos, and Life where there is Death!

 Grace and Peace,

Stephen