This Sunday, my church will consider a reading from Matthew 20: 20-28. In it, we get a very different picture of leadership.
Many of us are surrounded by people who think that a good leader tells the team how things will be done and forces them to do it, either by persuasion or threats or getting rid of people who don't obey. Jesus shows us a different way, the way of service.
These days I think of a quote that I wrote down as I was reading Tod Bolsinger's Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory. It's a quote (originally from Ronal Heifetz) that I triple underlined: "Leadership is disappointing your own people at a rate they can absorb" (p. 172).
Once we are on the other side of this corona virus crisis, more of us might find ourselves with leadership opportunities. History tells us that is often the case during times of plague and pestilence.
I've always told my students that they should plan what they would do in leadership positions, because they may very well find themselves there some day, and it might be sooner than they think. I tell them about Nelson Mandela, and that the reason that he was prepared to be president of South Africa was that he spent all that time in jail (more years than most of my students have been alive) planning for what he would do if he took over the country. He didn't nurse anger or bitterness. No, he planned, along with his compatriots, who were jailed with them.
In the coming days, when so many people will need so many different kinds of help, let us lead the way that Christ showed us how to lead. Let us serve our fellow humans.
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