{"id":31846,"date":"2023-03-15T13:02:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T20:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31846"},"modified":"2023-03-15T13:03:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T20:03:12","slug":"blessed-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/blessed-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#Blessed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOur task, as human beings, as human leaders, is\u2026to grow up, to learn, through the experiences we are given, who we are \u2013 what it means to be courageous, what it is to serve, what it is to be loved and to love, what it is to be real, what it is to be fully human. Leadership is the activity, – any activity \u2013 that leads other people more deeply into this full humanity:\u00a0 which enables them to take hold of, and take responsibility for, the life that they, as a unique, particular person within the created human race, have been given to live.\u201d<\/em>[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

This season of Lent we are preaching through the Beatitudes using Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie\u2019s book, Bless the Lives We Actually Have<\/span>. I have struggled with this word, \u201cblessed.\u201d So overused and made trite on social media, #blessed, I wrestled with what to do with this word.<\/p>\n

In Matthew, the beatitudes are not practical advice for successful living. I mean, who wants to be poor in spirit or in mourning? Who wants to be described as meek? Perhaps worst of all, who wants to be persecuted? And yet, it is precisely when we are at the end of our rope, when we are stooped low, when all of the defenses we use to protect ourselves from pain or failure of any kind are thwarted and overcome, that God has a chance of picking us up, holding us close, and whispering, \u201cI love you no matter what. In fact, there is nothing you can do or fail to do that will change my love for you.\u201d We are blessed.<\/p>\n

As a response to the Assurance of Grace (or pardon, depending on your tradition) I asked the congregation if they would turn to one another and declare, \u201cGod loves you no matter what!\u201d instead of the traditional response, \u201cPeace be with you. And also with you.\u201d Whew! Did I receive some push back! They did not want to \u201cforce\u201d God\u2019s love on anyone and felt that saying such a phrase would put people off.<\/p>\n

While I appreciated their sensitivity to the comfort level of those sitting next to them in worship, I wondered if underneath the push-back a deep sense of God\u2019s love being conditional based on their behavior. This particular congregation had a long history of being quite transactional in the community and amongst their own interactions. I had to believe that their own beliefs about God\u2019s love influenced how they interacted and lived, and why they couldn\u2019t bring themselves to tell others that God loves them \u201cno matter what.\u201d (To be fair: I was trying a lot of new things on this congregation and this could have simply been the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back.)<\/p>\n

In Simon Walker\u2019s book, Leading Out of Who You Are, Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership<\/span>, he writes, \u201cThe idea of undefended leadership is that we are secured not by our skills and resources but by our attachment to another \u2013 one who is big enough not to be overwhelmed by our failures and weaknesses.\u201d [2]<\/a> Of course, when Walker refers to the \u201cone who is big enough\u201d he is referring to God as \u201chuman relationships are simply not big enough, nor strong enough, nor true enough to give us a proper sense of perspective, a proper sense of ourselves.\u201d[3]<\/a> I think Friedman might refer to this as the \u201cundifferentiated self\u201d in that we are not caught up in the anxiety or beliefs of others but are able to take a stand because we know who we are and Whose we are.[4]<\/a>\u00a0In contrast, all of those skills and resources we use in leadership or life in general, are defenses we use to prop ourselves up, to hide the reality of our lives, or as Walker says, our \u201cbackstage.\u201d And while they may work for a time, at some point the curtain will be drawn back, and our \u201cbackstage life\u201d[5]<\/a> with all its \u201cstruggles and unmet needs and unresolved problems\u201d[6]<\/a> will come front and center. This may sound scary and awful. Who wants their dirty laundry aired or their secret lives made public? But this, is when Jesus says, God sees us, God works in us, God blesses us.<\/p>\n

The story of the \u201csinful\u201d woman who pours perfume on Jesus\u2019 feet is told in various ways in all four gospels. In Luke\u2019s gospel she slips into the crowded room, finds Jesus\u2019s feet as he reclines at the table of Simon, the Pharisee, and begins to cry. Big, wet tears, enough to require her to use her hair to wipe up the water from Jesus\u2019 feet. She then starts kissing his feet and pouring her perfume on them. Her actions are met with disgust from Simon, the host. \u201cIf this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.\u201d(Luke 7:39 NRSVUE)<\/p>\n

Jesus turns to the woman and says to Simon, \u201cDo you see this woman? Do you see the way she loves? Look at her!\u201d (Luke 7:47 NRSVUE)<\/p>\n

Here was a woman, probably a prostitute, who when at the end of her rope, the end of herself, had experienced the love and forgiveness of God. She was blessed. In turn, she sought out Jesus to express her gratefulness and love to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

According to Walker, this woman became an undefended leader. She received great love and grace, cultivated this generous source of approval from God,[8]<\/a> and gave it back to Jesus and to the world. In doing so, she leads us.<\/p>\n

This book made me wonder if my role as a pastor, if the role of all pastors, is to lead our congregations into undefended leadership even as we are trying to dismantle all that keeps our own leadership defended. It\u2019s not an easy task. In fact, it is probably a life-long task and one that we will never fully accomplish. But, even in being able to admit that we will not ever fully become undefended, brick by brick we are dismantling the walls that defend us.<\/p>\n

Our full humanity, the joy and sorrow, the successes and failures, all of life is a gift. It is our job as leaders to \u201csee that truly\u201d[9]<\/a> and in our gratefulness and wonder lead others into seeing and living it.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Walker, Simon P., Leading Out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership, Carlisle: Piquant Editions, 2007. 154<\/em><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> IBID, 103.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0IBID, 105.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Friedman, Edwin H., Margaret M. Treadwell, and Edward W. Beal. A Failure of Nerve<\/em><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Walker, Simon P., Leading Out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership, Carlisle: Piquant Editions, 2007. 27<\/em><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> IBID<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> IBID, 47.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> IBID, 117.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> IBID, 124.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOur task, as human beings, as human leaders, is\u2026to grow up, to learn, through the experiences we are given, who we are \u2013 what it means to be courageous, what it is to serve, what it is to be loved and to love, what it is to be real, what it is to be fully […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2535,2701,1718],"class_list":["post-31846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlpg02","tag-leadingoutofwhoyouare","tag-walker","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31846"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31848,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31846\/revisions\/31848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}