Tag Archives: Governance

Leadership

Lent

March 16, 2020

Scripture Reading:
1 Samuel 16:1-13

The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’ Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you, and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.’ Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, ‘Do you come peaceably?’ He said, ‘Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’ And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. –1 Samuel 16:1-5

Before we review this scripture, we need to think about what led up to it. The people of Israel wanted to have the power they saw in their neighboring countries who had kings not the tribal leadership they had. They clamored for a king and finally when Samuel lifted the idea to God, God relented and essentially said if they want a king give them a king. As far as I can tell Saul’s primary qualification for being king according to the people was that he was tall and good looking. We humans can be fickle and thus can let our fickleness cloud our common sense.

Flashing forward to the end of Saul’s reign, we learn that the country was in worse shape than before his selection as king and Samuel is tasked by God to set things right. I must confess I feel sorry for Saul. He clearly was out of his element in taking the job, but his pride at being selected probability made him accept it. The people of Israel were primarily at fault for letting envy and greed drive their lives rather than sharing a form of governance that would provide for the Common Good, the primary purpose of government.

This is an apt scripture for an election year. As we consider the candidates for office, we need to examine their primary purpose in seeking offices and test that against whether it provides for the Common Good of all citizens.

Prayer: Lord, cleanse us of all the fickle things of life that drive our decision and help us seek leaders whose hearts and minds are centered on the Common Good.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Dealing with Change

BluetoothEastertide
May 11, 2015

Scripture Reading: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

So one of the men who have accompanied us throughout the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.’ So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, ‘Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.’ And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles. –Acts 1:21-26

It is that time of year when my church, which is congregationally governed, elects new officers and elders, deacons, and deaconesses. Just a few years ago we went through a process of reorganizing our governance system primarily to reduce the number of meetings people were having to attend but also to shift the time commitment of our membership from governance to ministry.

It is hard to give up familiar ways, and any changes that are made in any organization must be accompanied with transparent and consistent communications. One of the greatest challenges facing the church and other organizations is the many varied ways we now communicate that may cause age isolation, if we fail to cover all the basis. I just spent time connecting my cell phone via Bluetooth to my new home phone system. I have stubbornly attempted to allocate my cell phone to my personal safety and communications needs, but have discovered that the rest of the world does not recognize my designated use. Once the number escaped my control, it morphed into everyone else’s designations. It took missing many calls and text messages causing me to hurt feelings and miss important meetings for me finally to give up trying to control it. I, however, do not want to constantly be checking several devices thus when my old home system bit the dust, I invested in one that could keep all my messaging together that is until the world changes again.

The disciples in our scripture today, recognized the need to reorder their organization to make it fit the new life situations in which they found themselves, and to continue the ministry Jesus has set before them. We have the same calling today. We must make decision together that always work to support that calling and that may require adjusting our lives in ways we never imagined to fulfill the trust Christ placed in us.

Prayer: Lord, you gifted me with the ability to be steadfast, guard me from taking the next step into stubbornness when it may imperil my service to you. And thank you so much for whoever writes those step by step instructions: push menu, press the down arrow, and select Bluetooth when I do not have a clue what Bluetooth is. Amen

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.