Going too far?? Dr. David Thompson January 30, 2011

Transcription

1 Going too far?? Dr. David Thompson January 30, 2011 If a fire is lit properly, it will burn, her mother said and if it rains there will be puddles somewhere. I m telling you Harriet some things don t change, and they are never going to change. Just like fires burning and water puddling. And being a slave. I was listening to Diane Sawyer interview Mark Kelly the husband of Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman who was shot in Tucson. At one point he was asked whether Gabrielle would reenter politics. Kelly said he probably wouldn't want Giffords to return to Congress. But then he said: "But I know that's probably not going to matter to her. I think she's such a devoted public servant that she's going to come out of this and be more resolved to fix things. There are dangers of being in public life. Today it is very easy to kill someone, particularly in Arizona where they believe that it is constitutional to carry automatic weapons. They are so freely

2 available that the most unstable of us can buy one and use it at will. The dangers of public life are also the dangers of true leadership. I heard one congresswoman say that she was intimidated by the IRA. You can t oppose them she said. They will ensure that you don t get re-elected. I m telling you Harriet some things don t change and they are never going to change. Just like fires burning and water puddling. And being a slave.. In the story of the first sermon by Jesus in his home town we see some very interesting things. Jesus has the approval and even admiration of the hometown crowd. So why does he throw it away? Jesus deliberately provokes the crowd. Why does he throw away his own safety? Did he go too far? There are some excellent studies in leadership versus management by Warren Bennis, Bass and Stogdill. There are times to lead and times to manage and people who are better at one than the other. It is very important to realize when to lead and when to manage and when not be afraid of taking risks. One study says that a research finding about managers is that they tend to come from stable home backgrounds and led relatively normal and comfortable lives. This leads them to be relatively risk-averse and they will seek to avoid conflict where

3 possible. In terms of people, they generally like to run a 'happy ship'. Leaders however seek risk. In the same study that showed managers as risk-averse, leaders appeared as risk-seeking, although they are not blind thrillseekers. When pursuing their vision, they consider it natural to encounter problems and hurdles that must be overcome along the way. They are thus comfortable with risk and will seek routes that others avoid as potential opportunities for advantage and will happily break rules in order to get things done. Perhaps you know a real leader. Perhaps you know someone who is comfortable in only being a manager. A great leader will also have management skills and a good manager will realize that there are times to lead and times to manage. Here are the broad differences between the two roles. The essence of a leader is change, the essence of a manager is to maintain stability. Leaders have followers, managers have subordinates. Leaders have big picture horizons, managers are short term. The leader has vision, the manager has objectives. Leaders set direction, managers plan the details. Leaders facilitate decisions, managers make them. The true leader has charisma while the manger uses authority. The leader is proactive and the manager reactive.. The leader s style is transformational and the manager s transactional. The leader asks what is right? and the manager is interested in being right. The leader shoulders blame and the manager blames.

4 Everybody knows that Jesus was one of the most successful leaders in history. You can tick off the characteristics: He is interested in change, leading people, he has long term vision, personal charisma, passion, he shapes history rather than trying to control it, he is interested in appealing to heart, rather than just our heads. Jesus is proactive, transformational, takes risks, breaks the rules when they need breaking, sets new directions, seeks the truth no matter what it costs, seeks what is right rather than being right.. So this leader enters his home town synagogue and immediately puts his finger on a problem which is still our greatest problem today. What is the problem? Insularity. The we /them mentality that leads to terrorism and war. The home town crowd was suffering under the belief that God was interested in only them. So when Jesus referenced from their own Scriptures that God was also active with a Syrian and a widow who was not Jewish, when he emphasized that God looked after lepers in other countries while lepers in Israel were not healed, and provided food to non Jews when Israel was starving, they got incensed. It would be very easy to do something like this today in Israel with the Jews or in Palestine with the Palestinians. It is not hard to preach a controversial sermon, but why do it? Did Jesus really want to provoke them so that they would try to push him over a cliff!? Why stir things up? It is certain in retrospect that Jesus knew a truth that we find in Tolkien s Lord of the Rings. Just

5 substitute Jesus for Gandalf in the following quote: The counsel of Gandalf was not founded on foreknowledge of safety, for himself or for others There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark. This begs a more basic question. What would the world be like without people like Jesus, Mohammed, the Sikh Gurus and the Buddha? Or Mother Theresa, Gabrielle Giffords or Aung San Suu Kyi? All of them are leaders and all of them like Gabrielle want to fix things and make the world a better place. All of them began something not founded on personal safety. There were things better to begin than refuse even although the end for them personally might be dark. When Aung San Suu Kyi was released from custody recently she said to her followers: I have to give you the first political lesson since my release. We haven't seen each other for so long, so we have many things to talk about. "There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk," she added. "People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal." The unison that Jesus envisioned was a complete unity across the world. Not just Jews and Gentiles or Palestinians or children of Abraham. This is the leader that taught us to love our enemies. He ate with publicans and sinners and tax collectors. He talked to Samaritans and eulogized one of them in a parable. He commended an occupation Roman centurion for his faith. This man was a wide open, clear eyed visionary. In his day he was crucified. In our day he would be shot.

6 So did he go too far? Is that other congress woman right who is unwilling to oppose the gun lobby because she is afraid she won t get re-elected? What good could she be if she was turfed out? Remember managers tend to want to be right, rather than do the right thing, because the right thing can be too costly. One has to pick the battles one can win they argue. And they have their reasons. There is much to be said for good management. There are times to just hunker down and wait until the time is better. Good leaders also know this; that a lot of life is all about timing! But there is also a time for courageous risk taking as well. Speaking about America Brooks Atkinson said: This nation was built by men who took risks - pioneers who were not afraid of the wilderness, business men who were not afraid of failure, scientists who were not afraid of the truth, thinkers who were not afraid of progress, dreamers who were not afraid of action. An unknown author has written: Of all the people I have ever known, those who have pursued their dreams and failed have lived a much more fulfilling life than those who have put their dreams on a shelf for fear of failure. Robert F. Kennedy once said: Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. Life presents to all of us these kinds of dilemmas. Should we take that risk or not? There are those of us that buckle under pressure and back down when we should not because we want peace without any kind of conflict.

7 Many organizations that are aging and don t want to change prefer to hire managers to preserve the status quo rather than actually engage the future. Many older faith congregations are in this category. They are failing and they know it but they are unwilling to change. So they hire minister/managers who avoid conflict and keep everyone safe and the congregation dying. Others seek to hire leaders for renewal but the person they hire is afraid and although capable of leading change, at crucial points they choose to sit on their hands when a vote needs to be taken. They choose getting re-elected rather than biting the bullet needed to effect necessary or ethical change. Governor Jerry Brown said recently that if California was to solve its budget problems we needed to elect him because he was someone without a future Sometimes there is a need for someone to act against the tide of popular opinion because it is the right thing to do. And they don t get re-elected and often are persecuted or lose their life in public service. I am immensely grateful for these courageous souls for they make a better world. Harriet Tubman was born a slave. She was however also a leader. Her mother was afraid to champion freedom. Harriet did not want to work in the fields without being paid. She wanted to be free. Her mother told her: Harriet some things don t change, and they are never going to change. Just like fires burning and water puddling. And being a slave. The slaves knew that if they followed the north star they could get to freedom. When Harriet talked of following the North Star her mother said If you try following that star to the north they will come hunting you with dogs.

8 But Harriet made her escape at night and finally got to Philadelphia and freedom. But Harriet did not stop when she was safe. She joined a group of people in the North who were trying to help slaves in the South escape. She used different paths, different safe houses and crossed the rivers at different points to throw the dogs off. Slave hunters offered thousands for her capture but she continued taking small groups through forests, hiding on boats, in attics and underground tunnels. She is not remembered so much for her own courageous escape but for the 15 times she returned, putting herself in jeopardy in order to help over 300 slaves go north; always at night, always in secret, always in danger. None of her passengers on her underground railroad were ever recaptured and Harriet was even able to rescue her own parents. When Gabrielle Giffords was shot she was eulogized by an African American President whose path to the Presidency was won by people like Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jnr. He did not come to the Presidency by accident but stood on the shoulders of true leaders who risked everything. You and I are here today in this old Episcopal church because 2 thousand years ago a Jewish rabbi risked everything for this belief: that if we are ever going to survive as a world it will only be when we dump our insularities for the common good of all. No Jesus did not go too far; but we do need to catch up Then fires can burn and rain make puddles and slaves be free For in our heart of hearts we know, that we all belong to God and each other.