Dancing with the Spirit: February 2013

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Up-side Down Leadership

Genesis 41

Mark 6:30-44

A Pharaoh turning over power to a “criminal”! Jesus AND his disciples feeding 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish! These are pretty amazing stories of upside-down leadership.

In our first story the almighty Pharaoh who has total power over his people decides to relinquish quite a bit of this power to Joseph. Remember, Pharaoh was like a King in a monarchy he had total power over the people and this power had been passed down to him through his family. Pharaohs themselves were even regarded as gods and god’s are NOT supposed to relinquish power to mere humans. Not to mention the man he was giving power to had been in jail! In fact he came right from jail he was not even a “respectable” man in society! Pharaoh upon knowing this man for less than a day recognizes Josephs gifts and that they are God given and decides to make him “second in command”. Now that’s going out on leadership limb!

There are several important things going on in this story. One is that God opened Pharaoh’s eyes to God’s power. Pharaoh saw God as bigger and more powerful than even he was and Pharaoh was considered all powerful and god like. Second in seeing God as all powerful Pharaoh buys in to God’s “plan” for the future of Egypt and put’s Joseph in charge of carrying out this plan because of Joseph’s God given gifts and his faith in God. Third we are witness to God’s love and compassion to all of God’s children. God has compassion for Pharaoh by keeping him in power-in other words he doesn’t loose everything because of this change in leadership. God show compassion toward Joseph by bringing him out of his deepest struggle-being in jail. God shows compassion toward the people of Egypt and the surrounding countries through the leadership of Pharaoh and Joseph whose planning ahead kept food in their bellies during the famine.

Then there is the story of Jesus and his disciples feeding the 5,000. Jesus decides to take his disciples on a little vacation away from the crowds for some rest and relaxation. However, they are “found” and Jesus has “compassion” for the crowd and begins teaching them. As the daylight wanes the disciples, in their typical manner, become restless and begin to worry about how they are going to feed all these people. Their solution, which seems compassionate and easiest, is to just send them out to the neighboring towns so that they can buy their own food before it gets too dark and it is unsafe to travel.

Jesus, with his true compassion and wisdom, challenges their solution and says “You give them something to eat.” They of course give him a “very good” reason why this is not possible. He then sends them out find out how many “loaves and fishes” they have. After finding out there are 5 loaves and 2 fish he “directs” the disciples to gather the crowd into groups and sit. Giving thanks to God he divides the bread and fish among the disciples to distribute to the entire crowd.

Think about it! Jesus by this point in his ministry was probably getting kind of tired of the disciples complaining and finding the “easy way out”. It wasn’t that the disciples were not compassionate or dumb they just were not able to see the big picture. In this case Jesus could have taken full power over the disciples and done it all by himself. He is God you know! Yet, instead he decides to empower his disciples to serve the people. Jesus, challenges the status quo and the disciples first solution by setting forth a new vision/solution where the disciples and the gathered crowd could experience the love and power of God. By equipping the disciples with the necessary gifts they are able engage more fully and truly in God’s work. Jesus empowers the disciples to become leaders in this ministry of compassion and love.

Both of these stories testify to God’s compassion and love for her beloved. These stories also testify to the fact that all people are beloved children of God and thus we all deserve compassion and love. Compassion, belonging, and love are not based on our status in society, how much money we have, our age, or our religion. We all deserve these things because we all belong to God. Ministry is showing authentic compassion and love to God’s people no matter who they are. It might be your sister, your teacher, the bully at school, the mean coworker, the homeless person you passed on your way here, your children or grandchildren...you get the idea. We are all called by God to embody compassion and love-this is ministry.

We are all called into ministry and ministry requires shared leadership. According to Kevin Ford in his book Transforming Church, Leadership is not defined in terms of power over someone or something but rather is defined as “leadership as ministry through sacrifice and service.” (Ford p. 11). For Ford leadership is shared leadership. In American culture this kind of leadership might be considered upside-down leadership. In a culture that promotes power and individuality, effective leadership is defined by how much power you have over someone and how effective you are at coercing others to follow you. This stands is stark contrast to leadership as compassion, sacrifice, and service! In this context Ford says “leadership is about how best to fulfill the churches mission” (Ford p. 11). Our mission, ultimately, is to embody God’s love and compassion in our own context.

Both of today’s Bible stories are examples of this type of leadership. Pharaoh sacrificed his power and probably his status. In doing so he showed compassion for his people as well as recognizing the gifts and wisdom of Joseph. Jesus’ leadership was also one of compassion and service. In this story Jesus empowered his disciples to carry out a ministry of compassion and love.

Shared leadership and ministry go hand in hand. Shared leadership requires sacrifice, service, vision, faith, and compassion. Ministry occurs in the Dayton Avenue Presbyterian Church (DAPC) community, in you family, your workplace, and/or in your personal life. Ministry happens when God’s love and compassion are experienced by everyone. Cultivating ministries of love and compassion requires that everyone participate using our unique God given gifts. Leadership as ministry occurs when we empower others and/or are empowered by others to use our gifts to embody God’s love and compassion for all people and to focus on how to best fulfill this congregation’s mission.

I wonder how we in the DAPC community can embody leadership as ministry? How can we in “official” leadership positions empower this community to best fulfill the mission of DAPC? I wonder how God will use this community to embody her love and compassion? I wonder how God will bless each of us this week with love and compassion? I wonder how will we respond?

Amen.