The Spirituality of Leadership
Let us pause for a moment to give thanks for God’s presence and transformation in our lives.
Please pray with me:
Gracious God, we give thanks for this time and space
to gather and recognize the power
of your presence in our lives.
In the life and ministry of Jesus Christ
your love was made manifest in ways
that transformed the people around him.
The spirit of Christ, and the message he proclaimed,
still lives and breathes in our lives
and we give thanks for this gift.
We recognize that we are required to respond
to Christ’s call to us with faith-filled action
and we give thanks that we are not alone in this pursuit.
With faith and hope, we pray. Amen
Earlier in the service I asked you to reflect on an inspirational leader in your life whose leadership was spirit filled. I then asked you to name What you think God wants from leaders.
Some responses I heard were: wisdom, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, imagination, passion…..there were many more.
This last Sunday of the Christian calendar, known as ‘Reign of Christ Sunday’, is traditional a time to reflect on God’s inbreaking into creation and God’s gift of transformation through Christ.
Falling into the mystery of God’s divine love not only transforms our hearts and soul, but our vision of the world around us and our relationship with others. Christianity’s deepest mystery is, Jesus was God incarnate, fully human and fully divine. A mystery beyond our understanding, a mystery Jesus held in balance, transforming his ministry and our lives. The manifestation of the Great I AM in Jesus, was the momentous Christian epiphany. In holding both human and divine within, Jesus saw the world through an alternative vision if you will, which we and saints and mystics only reach through falling in love with the divine. In many ways it is not something that can be taught, rather something that is experienced and practiced. It is a way of looking at the world which graciously holds in balance the opposites in life. In this Jesus was ahead of his time.
He wasn’t the leader the Hebrew nation was waiting for. Persecuted and terrorized on all sides most wanted a mighty king/warrior to protect them and fight the enemy, but a few saw a different kind of leader.
In today’s scripture we hear of three leaders with a different vision. Jeremiah uses shepherd imagery to describe the messiah, prophesising “woe to those shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of God’s pasture. Leaders protect the flock from fear, keep them from harm, not hurt.
Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, prophesizes that a mighty saviour will recue them so they could serve with out fear. He will bring salvation through the forgiveness of sins, tender mercy, give light to those in the dark, guide our feet in way of peace. And John, his son, would lead the way for the coming messiah.
Paul, in Colossians defines the leadership of Jesus as: he makes the people stronger, rescues us from darkness and transfers us to redemption through the forgiveness of sin. Jesus holds all things together, all the fullness of God dwelt in him, reconciling all things to him through Jesus’s death.
It is fair to say that for Christians Jesus is the icon of transformation. Other faiths and leaders have seen this as well. When Ghandi was asked where he learned non-violent resistance he replied he learned it from Jesus.
In my research focusing on Jesus as leader I came across a video talk by Fr. Richard Rohr on the spirituality of leadership, taken from his book The Naked Now. And it is from these sources I draw my reflection.
Jesus clearly operated from a consciousness different from that of the masses and even that of the religious leaders who largely fought him. His own style of teaching in stories, parables, and enigmatic sayings was undoubtedly learned from in his own prayer practices. Although most seemed to misunderstand him, or even ignore him, despite what seem to be astounding healings and miracles he didn’t let that discourage him saying “Happy are you that do see, and happy are you that do hear!”
“The most amazing fact about Jesus, unlike almost any other religious founder, is that he found God in disorder and imperfection – and told us that we must do the same or we would never be content on this earth. This is what makes Jesus so counterintuitive to most eras and cultures, and why most never perceived the good news in this utter shift of consciousness….. "
Jesus, Rohar reflects, exemplifies non-dualistic thinking. Most of us tend to see in a dualistic way, that is: either/or, this/that, for me/against me. But in Jesus wisdom doesn’t place things in oppositional pairs nor chooses sides. This was Jesus’ gift, he held both sides together which Rohr says is the meaning of prayer. Prayer is different than knowledge. Prayer, wisdom/contemplation is a different process that doesn’t judge, is not egocentric. Wisdom is open to the views of the other side. But it takes practice – hench the practise of a prayer life.
Carl Jung says not avoiding conflict moves us to a higher level of consciousness. From this place we can see alternatives, see the middle ground, are tolerant of ambiguity, can hold two opposing ideas and still function. It is an alternative consciousness beyond fight or flight. For this reason, all great leaders, Jesus, Buddha, say Do Not Judge. Don’t quickly label things. The win/lose process loves to think up/down, in/out, right/wrong, against/for me. It wraps the ego around opinion. This kind of dualist mind set is the basis of racism, classism, sexism. Seers of alternative vision are neither either/or, win/lose. This kind of wisdom grounded in prayer & contemplation, takes time and practice. Practice is basic to rewiring the mind.
Jesus took time out for prayer, often retreating to be alone with God. In scripture there are frequent references such as “In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house and went off to a lonely place to pray.” Luke describes him as praying privately before almost all major events. There are the forty days alone in the desert, and his final prayer alone in the Garden of Gethsemane.
At the heart of our faith is Christ who grounded himself in prayer – alone time with God, practiced non-dualistic thinking, and stayed grounded in the world around him.
In fact, Rohr says, there “is no greater training for true leadership than living in the naked now. There, we can set aside our own mental constructs and lead situations even more imaginatively – with the clearer vision of one who lives beyond himself or herself.
The qualities of good leadership in summary are:
• Prayer: Good leaders must have a certain capacity for non-polarity thinking and full-access wisdom (prayer),
• Faith: a tolerance for ambiguity (faith)
• Hope: an ability to hold creative tension (hope),
• Love: and an ability to care (love) beyond their own personal advantage.
Prayer, faith, hope, love.
These gifts are within us. Jesus simply asks us to develop these gifts within ourselves, share with those around us, use these gifts as the foundation of leadership.