{"id":1239,"date":"2015-10-18T11:00:31","date_gmt":"2015-10-18T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=1239"},"modified":"2019-10-08T11:48:43","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T15:48:43","slug":"prayerful-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2015\/10\/18\/prayerful-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayerful Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here to listen to the full service<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark 10:35-45<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to listen to the sermon only<\/a><\/p>\n

Preface<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

We come upon our forebears, our spiritual parents of long ago, at an awkward and unappealing moment. \u00a0They are haggling, arguing, engaged in a bit of religious one-up-man-ship. \u00a0James and John are seeking power, authority, and places of honor. \u00a0It is sad to come upon those whom otherwise you respect, at such an awkward and unappealing moment.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are dangers in religion, hence the need now and then for a reformation or two. \u00a0Superstition, idolatry, hypocrisy. \u00a0Pride, sloth, falsehood. \u00a0But another is this one: \u00a0religious rivalry. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Apparently in the emerging church of Mark\u2019s day, in say 70ad, rivalry lived. \u00a0So the Gospel depicts a memory of James and John, the sons of thunder, asking an impolite question, and misunderstanding the journey of faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

You need not take the word of today\u2019s preacher about the awkwardness and lack of appeal in this portrait. \u00a0\u00a0When Matthew and Luke, some twenty years later, wrote their gospels, in 85ad or so, they gave the passage a haircut, and a bath, and some perfume. \u00a0Luke eliminated the passage entirely, and Matthew took off the disciples\u2019 lips the religious rivalry we hear today.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there is\u2014is there not?\u2014something also helpful in all this. \u00a0It is in a way encouraging to know that even the great \u2018sons of thunder\u2019, even the disciples of old, even the church of old, even our spiritual parents, as well as our earthly parents, are utterly human beings, being human as they were and are. \u00a0\u00a0That is encouraging. \u00a0They made some mistakes. \u00a0They needed some corrective conversation. \u00a0At points they too misunderstood the costs of life, faith, discipleship and growth. \u00a0As embarrassing as is the passage, perhaps Luke and Matthew missed something when not including it. \u00a0\u00a0Some of the most endearing and enduring qualities of our loved ones are, sometimes, not too far away from their utterly human qualities, even their failings. \u00a0That too is helpful to recall. \u00a0My dad, who died five years ago, smoked a pipe for most of his life, clearly a failing I guess, now that we are more aware of the dangers of tobacco. \u00a0Yet what I would not give for a few moments just to sit and enjoy that typical, personal failing with him. \u00a0To be surrounded by an unmistakable aroma and a cloud of smoke. \u00a0It was so \u2018him\u2019. \u00a0Enjoy your parents while you have them, for all their foibles. \u00a0For they are such utterly human beings, being human as they are.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you\u2019, said the Apostle.<\/span><\/p>\n

To the question of power and authority raised by the disciples, Jesus makes His reply. \u00a0Real leadership is prayerful, servant leadership. The way of faith, when it comes across the inevitable, and necessary landscape of power, breathes with prayer. \u00a0It is mindful, careful, soulful, prayerful. \u00a0It is simple. \u00a0It is communal. \u00a0It is humble.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wonder as parents, and future parents, and as children and former children, whether you will hear this gospel and live it? \u00a0It is a respectful question, but a serious one. \u00a0Given your walking in faith, how will you handle the power you are given? \u00a0Given your journey in faith, will yours be prayerful leadership?<\/span><\/p>\n

Simplicity<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Is there not an existential simplicity in prayerful leadership? \u00a0We use often today the word \u2018transparent\u2019. \u00a0I am not sure we are always very transparent about what \u2018transparent\u2019 means for us. \u00a0In some measure, though, it conveys a sense of integrity, of openness or honesty. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark wants to show that the disciples, as do many in his own church, miss the point. \u00a0The point? \u00a0There is no real greatness, there is no real leadership, without humility, none without suffering, none without pain, none without public rebuke, none without the patience of Job (of whom we read earlier), none without a pastoral heart for those who experience the consequences of decisions which others make. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If, in your work, you have shown humility, known suffering, felt pain, had rebuke, summoned patience, found empathy\u2014for all the cost, take heart. \u00a0You are not far from the leadership kingdom of heaven\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

The intonation of glory is a clue that we are reading from years after Golgotha. \u00a0The stark reference to the cup of sorrow bears a memory of Golgotha. \u00a0The knowing, counter knowing of the question about baptism, and its portents reveals the hurt of Golgotha. \u00a0\u00a0The shadow of grief that darkens this discourse is the shadow of the Cross of Christ. And the final phrase is unmistakable in its reference: \u00a0to give his life as a ransom for many. The Christian community, we ourselves included, may not ever be unclear about the potential abuse of power. \u00a0That particular portal to blindness has been nailed, nailed shut.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remind you of the Shaker community. \u00a0In their work, their dress, their furniture, their devotion, their relations, the Shakers lived simply. The heart of their simplicity, and ours at our best, is the desire to \u201clive a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called\u201d. Every renewal in Christian history has had this feature: Paul mending tents, Augustine chaste again, Luther and Erasmus cleansing Rome, Wesley and his coal miners, Latin American base communities, and every spiritual nudging in our own very human church. <\/span><\/p>\n

Who are you trying to please? And how? And why? <\/span><\/p>\n

Think of someone you have known who lived with a heartfelt, powerful simplicity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Who taught you about authority? <\/span><\/p>\n

There is an authority that is visible in every person who has found the freedom of vocation, the freedom to live with abandon. \u00a0Look around at the windows in this charming Chapel, following worship, and you will see the faces of women and men who found a simplicity, a way to live with abandon.<\/span> Is there not an existential simplicity in prayerful leadership? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Community<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Is there not a regard for community in prayerful leadership? \u00a0For simplicity, alone, has its limits. \u00a0What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander. \u00a0Protection of sheep means communal opposition to the wolf. \u00a0Machiavelli had a point or two. \u00a0Niebuhr bears reading still. \u00a0To acquire and then to use power in real life often involves more than love, or less than love. \u00a0Any community involves endless contention and intractable difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our Gospel clearly addresses power and authority within the community of faith. \u00a0It less clearly addresses power and authority outside of that community. \u00a0\u2018First..,among you\u2019. \u00a0\u00a0How are we to offer prayerful leadership in community?<\/span><\/p>\n

As this passage shows, from the outset it has been terribly difficult for the Christian church to maintain its own authentic form of authority, over against the lesser models abroad in every age. \u00a0I emphasize the little phrase, slave of all, or servant of the whole. \u201cKnowledge puffs up, but love builds up,\u201d said Paul. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the late fourth century there emerged a good, great leader of the church, Ambrose of Milan. In just eight days he went from unbaptized layman to Bishop. His rhetorical skill, musicianship, diplomatic agility and attention to the preparations for Baptism provided the power behind his lasting influence in Northern Italy. Above all, Ambrose used his authority for the common good. Notice in the Scripture there is no avoidance of the need for leadership. Authority may be shared but responsibility is not to be shirked. What lasts, what counts, what is true and good and beautiful, finally, is what \u201cbuilds up\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

The greatest teacher of the earlier church, Augustine of Hippo, came to Milan a non-Christian. From the influence of Ambrose he left baptized and believing and worked a generation to set the foundations for the church over a thousand years to come. <\/span><\/p>\n

I find some striking parallels to the story of Ambrose in a once popular book by Jim Collins, “Good to Great.” Here are the qualities of those in authority in companies (and universities) that became great when they had before been good: quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, did not believe his own clippings\u2014a plow horse not a show horse. \u00a0<\/span>A plow horse not a show horse.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A lot of progress can be made when we do not linger too long over who gets the credit. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some years ago I went to a church meeting near Canada on a very cold night. It was led by our Bishop. For some reason I was not in a very happy mood, nor was I very charitable in my internal review of his remarks that evening. I do not recall his topic or theme. I remember clearly seeing him help to move hymnals, borrowed from other churches for the large crowd, so they could be returned. Snow, dark, long arms carrying a dozen hymnals into the tundra. I forget the sermon, but I remember the hymnals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who taught you about power? Think of someone you have known who lived with heartfelt passion for the common good. <\/span><\/p>\n

Who taught you about leadership? <\/span>Is there not a regard for community in prayerful leadership? <\/span><\/p>\n

Humility<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Is there not a deep pool of humility in prayerful leadership? \u201cThe basic inability of the disciples to grasp or accept Jesus\u2019 concept of messiahship or its corollary, suffering discipleship, becomes reflected more and more in their total relationship to Jesus. \u00a0The conflict over the correct interpretation of messiahship widens into a general conflict and misunderstanding in almost every area of their relationship<\/span><\/p>\n

A few years ago Charles Rice of Drew spoke about the servant of the servants of God. He told about an Easter when he was in Greece. He sat in the Orthodox Church and watched the faithful in devotions. There was a great glassed icon of Christ, to which, following prayers, women and men would move, then kneel. \u00a0Then as they rose they kissed the glassed icon. <\/span><\/p>\n

Every so often a woman dressed in black would emerge from the shadows with some cleanser, or windex, and a cloth and \u2013psh, psh\u2014would clean the image, making it clear again. \u00a0A servant of the servants of God, washing away the accumulated piety before her\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Rice had a revelation about service and power and authority and leadership. And through him I did too. Maybe it will work for you. As he watched the woman in black cleaning the icon, he realized that this was what his ministry was meant to be. A daily washing away from the face of Christ all that obscured, all that distorted, all that blocked others from seeing his truth, goodness and beauty. Including a lot of piety. \u00a0Including pretense and presumption and position. \u00a0Service that lasts is deliberate and also deliberative, it is steady service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every one of us has some power. If you have a pen, a telephone, a computer, email, a tongue, a household, a family, a job, a community, a church\u2014then you have some authority. <\/span><\/p>\n

Think of someone you have known who provided heartfelt service to the servants of God. \u00a0Steady, sincere, suffering service. Is there not a deep pool of humility in prayerful leadership? Is there not a deep pool of humility in prayerful leadership?<\/span><\/p>\n

Coda<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

For our gospel today, Mark 10:45, accosts us in this very way:<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you drink the cup that I drink?\u00a0 Whoever wants to be great shall be your servant.\u00a0 Whoever wants to be first shall be the slave of all.\u00a0 The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Parents, Students, Community, Listeners:\u00a0 Can you drink that cup? \u00a0It is a respectful question, but a serious one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sursum Corda<\/span><\/i>:\u00a0 Things are not quite always as they seem, says the gospel.\u00a0 There is more than a little difference between appearance and reality, says the gospel.\u00a0 Real leaders serve others, says the gospel.\u00a0 Ambition unfettered will not lead to happiness, says the gospel.\u00a0 A true life is not always an easy one, says the gospel.\u00a0 The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, says the gospel.\u00a0\u00a0 There is a mystery at the heart of life, says the gospel.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

And that mystery is Jesus Christ, and him crucified, one whose life, true life, is poured out like a ransom paid to free others.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Underneath the tiny things lurk the great things.\u00a0 A mystery, a ransom paid, a life laid up and laid out and laid down, lurking, waiting, present, like a breath, the eternal great things, hidden under the unlikely blankets of the littlest things.\u00a0 Your calling to faith may be brewing\u2026Under a desire for simplicity.\u00a0 Under a love of community.\u00a0 Under a feeling of hope, a longing for justice and a decision for humility. \u00a0And all through the cacophony of a noisy world, a hint, a glimmer, an echo, a breath,\u00a0a prayer, and such a prayer as becomes <\/span>prayerful leadership.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

-The Rev. Dr. Robert Allan Hill, Dean of Marsh Chapel<\/a><\/p>\n

For more information about Marsh Chapel at Boston University,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For information about donating to the Chapel,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click here to listen to the full service Mark 10:35-45 Click here to listen to the sermon only Preface We come upon our forebears, our spiritual parents of long ago, at an awkward and unappealing moment. \u00a0They are haggling, arguing, engaged in a bit of religious one-up-man-ship. \u00a0James and John are seeking power, authority, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1239"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1242,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions\/1242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}