09/22/2024 ~ Proper 20 ~ Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proverbs 31:10-31; Psalm 1; Wisdom of Solomon 1:16-2:1, 12-22 or
Jeremiah 11:18-20; Psalm 54; James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a; Mark 9:30-37 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1012786086

Leadership Part I

“Jesus sat down, called the Twelve together, and said, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and at the service of all.’” — Mark 9:35.

Many of you have heard me say I was a member of an Episcopal Church in New York City. Back then another parishioner suggested to the Rector— Rector is Episcopal speak for Pastor— a parishioner suggested the church should start a soup kitchen program on Sunday afternoons. She did not blink and said, “Go for it! Get it done!”

The first week several parishioners gathered and fed a grand total of four. The second week there were 25 guests, the third about seventy-five.

Within a couple of months some 200 were fed weekly. That effort continued for years. Among those who helped, I became known as… the bread guy.

Why? I got to the church early on a Sunday, grabbed a dolly and went around the corner to the world famous Zabar’s Deli. They donated day old bread to the cause, usually ten or more boxes of it, large boxes. That’s what you need to help feed 200.

What we heard from those who came to eat was quite blunt. There was better food at other soup kitchens. But this church had nice people.

That positive assessment I think was based on one thing. We tried to make sure at least one parishioner sat at every table.

Why? We thought it would be helpful for a member of the church community to be there, be welcoming, perhaps just be present to the guests.

Some who attended were elderly, living alone, lonely. This ministry gave those folks a chance to get out, have some human contact, socialize.

Some who came were destitute, homeless, living on the streets, lonely. They needed to eat in a place that felt safe.

I think being friendly helped people feel welcomed, safe, secure. Perhaps some of them even felt like this made them a part of a bigger family, a part of a community.

They might have never seen the other people who were there and might never see them again. But that did not preclude there being a sense of community in that place. (Slight pause.)

Community— an interesting term— what is community? Is community, for instance, made up of anyone who worships in this Meeting House on a given Sunday? After all, no matter what church we talk about, the same folks do not gather every week. Every week the makeup of the congregation changes. Each person does not attend each week. So the members of the worshiping community changes every week.

This is also a truth: each person in our midst brings their own talents, prayers, concerns, joys, hopes and sense of the Spirit Who is both working in them and in the community. Hence through the Spirit, the congregation becomes a new and different creation, a new and different community, a new and different entity by and through the presence of any one individual in this space each and every week. (Slight pause.)

I hope through the grace of God that we, as individuals and collectively, strive to affirm God works in each of us. I also hope through the grace of God we strive together to move the community of faith toward to a better understanding of the Spirit at work in this place, strive to listen for the places to which God calls us within the context of this community. (Slight pause.)

Now, if by definition the community of this church changes Sunday to Sunday, I think we need to understand it also changes day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. Question: what does it mean to lead, to be a leader in that shifting context? If the community is that fluid, what does it mean to offer leadership in a constantly changing, thereby seemingly less than cohesive, less than focused community? (Slight pause.)

These words are recorded in Mark: “Jesus sat down, called the Twelve together, and said, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and at the service of all.’” (Slight pause.)

There is a lot going on in this reading. I want to take us first to the section where Jesus speaks about death and resurrection. The words clearly state Jesus addresses the disciples about this. But later Jesus addresses only the Twelve.

Broadly at least, the word disciples can be taken to mean a group larger than only the Twelve. Scholars say the disciples, this larger group, could have numbered anywhere from fifty to several hundred.

But Jesus gathers this smaller group, the Twelve together, in one sense an inner circle, and talks to them. I think it’s appropriate to call this group the core leadership.

Now, the distinctions I just outlined— disciple and one of the Twelve, an Apostle— reflect the real make up of any community. Communities are always in a constant state of change. In fact, when the Gospels are carefully examined even the Apostles, this inner circle, is fluid.

Sometimes all are present; sometimes one or two. It seems as if they come and go. And of course, when Jesus is at that greatest hour of need… none of the twelve are to be found. This brings us back to that question: if community is fluid what does it mean to offer leadership in a less than cohesive community? (Slight pause.)

One of my mentors in ministry advocated quiet leadership. Here are several descriptions. First, it’s not what you say that makes for real leadership. It’s what you do.

When you treat other people with respect and kindness that displays real leadership. Real leadership is not about self-aggrandizement.

Also, real leadership is about sharing. Leadership is especially about empowering others to realize who they are and what they can do by allowing for and encouraging their leadership. The goal of the true leader is to make yourself unnecessary.

All that also explains one of the essential problems with leadership. Real leaders do not need people who are simply or only willing to work.

Real leaders do not need followers. Real leaders rely on those who are willing to lead others. (Slight pause.)

In the story I told earlier I was known as the bread guy. That was a minor leadership role on my part but it was leadership. Why? I did something which needed to be done. Yes, it’s not what I said but what I did that counted.

However, the important piece is I filled a slot that needed filling. How did I know that it needed to be filled, needed to be done? I was able to see the overall picture, the total leadership picture. I did not see just what I did. I was also aware of everything that needed to be done. That’s how I found out and knew about what slot needed to be filled. (Slight pause.)

A reminder: the Rector at that church told a parishioner: “Go for it! Get it done!” Someone once said to me when I told that story, “Well, why did she not do more? Why did she not start the soup kitchen, organize it? That’s what a real leader would have done.”

“No,” I said. “That’s not what a real leader would have done. Her job as a leader was to recognize a ministry was needed, recognize someone was willing to do, empower that person and get out of the way. (Slight pause.)

So, what is leadership? Leadership is something we all need to do. We are, after all, Congregationalists. The very name says we are all leaders.

And yes, I do think structure is a human necessity. That’s why there are the disciples but also why there are the Twelve— structure. But unless we are all leaders communicating and collaborating together, unless leadership is communal with each of us seeing the big picture, the community becomes diminished because the overall picture and any goals which that overall picture might entail become too scattered. And take my word for this: being too scattered is a disease that can kill a congregation.

So as we consider what leadership means— seeing the overall picture but doing what is necessary— we should also remember Jesus explained leadership this way: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and at the service of all.” At the service of all— that means each of us needs to see both the big picture and be focused— not an easy task. Amen.

09/22/2024
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “So, if today’s sermon title was Leadership Part I you may assume there will be a Part II. Next, I want to call your attention to the list of Thoughts on Leadership found in the bulletin. [1] Please read them when you have time. Some are from theological sources but most are not. Let me point to one in the Thoughts for Meditation from Peter Drucker, who is known as the founder of modern management. ‘Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.’ Too often we in the church simply manage, season to season, Sunday to Sunday, year to year. We become satisfied by just doing things right rather than doing the right things. That’s not leadership. For those who complain the church has lost its ability to be a positive influence in society we need to look no further than that.”

BENEDICTION: Let us go forth in the Spirit of Christ. Let us seek the will of God. Let us put aside ambition and conceit for the greater good. Let us serve in joyous obedience. And may we love God so much that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.

[1] . THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” — Peter Drucker (1909-2005)

“A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.” — David Gergen (b. 1942)

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams (1767-1848)

“In Aristotelian terms, the good leader must have ethos, pathos and logos. The ethos is moral character, the source of an ability to persuade. Pathos is an ability to touch feelings, to move people emotionally. Logos is an ability to give solid reasons for an action, to move people intellectually.” — Mortimer J. Adler (1902 – 2001)

“A leader is a dealer in hope.” — Napoleon Bonaparte (1869 – 1821)

“A prime function of the leader is to keep hope alive.” — John W. Gardner (1912 – 2002)

“The true leader is always led.” — Carl Jung (1875 – 1961)

“Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” — Thomas J. (Tom) Peters (b. 1942)

“A good leader needs to stand behind those who follow as often standing in front of them.” — Marilyn vos Savant (b. 1946)

“Outstanding leaders boost the self-esteem of others. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” — Sam Walton (1918 – 1992)

“Transformational leaders are known in two primary ways: they bring out the best in their followers and the worst in their enemies.” — Dr. Mardy Grothe (b. 1942)

“I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” — Benjamin Disraeli (1804 – 1881)

“The final test of a leader is to leave behind in others the conviction and the will to carry on.” — Walter Lippmann (1889 – 1974)

“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 – 1969)

“The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.” — John Buchan (1875 – 1940)

“Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves.” — Stephen R. Covey (1932 – 2012)

“Jesus models a new kind of authority, a servant-leadership that ministers to the members rather than waits to be served by them. Jesus did what, in that culture, slaves did: wash the feet of the community.” — Joan Chittister, The Liturgical Year (b. 1936)

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant.” — Max DuPree (1924 – 2017)

“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader.” — John C. Maxwell (b. 1947)

“Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.” — Norman Schwarzkopf (1934 – 2012)

“Not even a great leader can get very far without great people to lead.” — Ashleigh Brilliant (1933)

“Mimicking the successful strategies of others is enticing to some leaders because it eliminates the need to think.” — Henry T. Blackaby (1935 – 2024) & Richard Blackaby (b. 1961), Spiritual Leadership.

“…whenever a people reduces all its problems to a conspiracy by someone else, it absolves itself and its leaders of any responsibility for its predicament— and any need for self-examination.” — Thomas Freidman (b. 1953), NY Times 02/10/2002

“There is no valid leadership acknowledged in the Bible, whether it be of people or of institutions, that does not fulfill itself in servanthood.” — E. V. Matthew, YMCA leader in Bangalore, India

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” — Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997)