Just a quick thought about leadership.

This morning I was treated to a Mr Hopley sermon. These are usually well thought out, structured for ease of understanding, and often include maps and spatial or timeline elements which help to explain and educate the congregation. Mr Hopley is a well respected teacher of Humanities. You can tell.

This morning’s message concerned the end of Moses, who led the Israelites through the desert to the Promised Land, but was not permitted to enter it himself. Only one thing stuck with me from the whole sermon, and it’s this:

Leaders are human.

I hate being in charge as much as I love it. The feeling that I can do something and make a difference is quickly balanced with the responsibility which weighs on the person at the top.

So we open our Bibles (being well brought up church types) and we find (among others):

• Noah the drunkard
• Abraham the wanderer
• Jacob the thief
• Joseph the braggart
• Moses the murderer
• David the adulterer
• Gideon the coward

So no matter how bad we feel about our leadership, we’re hardly the worst example. As a bloke, it can be a bit daunting to realise most of the strong assured and dependable leaders in the Bible seem to be women. Or called Jesus.

I’m really not going to get into a slanging match about women priests (bishops, archbishops, popes, whatever) but it makes me think sometimes.

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Mary and Martha

The funny thing is, having read Luke 10:38-42 that I could suddenly see the unfairness of it.
Look closely. It’s Martha who opens her house to Jesus, and so she is rightly concerned with preparations to make him welcome. Mary sits at his feet and listens, and she makes the better choice, but somehow you can see why Martha does her headless chicken act over the preparations.
Look at some of the other folks Jesus eats with. Zaccheus is an appalling man, guilty of corruption and fraud. In fact, it’s more like outright theft.
Jesus picks people to be with because his Dad made them, and he holds the key to their salvation, not because they’re good examples. He takes them as they are but doesn’t shy away from correcting their faults. So he is with all of us, if we have the will to invite him in.

This thought and others generated at the Wired to Worship service at Aldridge Parish Church this evening.