Epiphany 7: Foolishness, Wisdom and Leadership

Leviticus 19-1-2, 9-18
Psalm 119-33-40
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Matthew 5:38-48

Over our twenty-four hours together the Vestry spent a fair amount of time talking about and reflecting on leadership. Leadership seems to be a perennial issue in the church, and certainly one of the issues Paul is addressing in the first letter to the Corinthians. In today’s reading he likens the community’s leaders to builders who build on the foundation that is Jesus Christ himself, while at the same reminding the Corinthians not to “boast about human leaders”. (1 Corinthians 3:21) But does that not leave us with a bit a problem, since all we have are human leaders? Well, that depends how we look at it, and how we understand leadership. If we try to force Christian leadership into conventional models of leadership, we do run into some problems; and Paul highlights this when he writes, “Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.” (1 Corinthians 3:18-19a) What Paul is here hinting at is the counter-intuitive nature of truly effective leadership. The “wisdom of this world” – mere human wisdom – is the ingrained and knee-jerk reaction to events and situations, and sometimes we have took take the “foolish” – I use the term in inverted commas – route in order to arrive at a place of genuine wisdom, the wisdom of God.

While on our Vestry retreat the words of St Paul did not specifically arise, it is serendipitous that it we are presented with them today, because much of what we heard on our retreat is reflected in Paul’s ideas of leadership, of counter-intuitive wisdom and of foolishness. One of the first statements Fr Larry, who led our retreat, shared with us was a quote from Albert Einstein: “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.” It is a hard lesson to learn, but much of people’s failures in resolving problems and effectively addressing challenges stems from their unwillingness to conceive the issue in a new light, within a different frame of reference. Sometimes coming into a new place of resolution is not about arriving at the right answer, but about perhaps re-framing the question, or even examining whether we are asking the right question to begin with. Have you noticed how Jesus, for example, when asked questions about the meaning of the law, always takes the whole discussion out of the narrow definitions of rules and law-keeping and instead places it within the context of interior attitudes and conversion of life. I know we have some problems here at the Church of the Saviour, but I wonder if we actually have the problems we think we have. Are we asking the right questions? We ask a lot of questions about what we should be doing, but are those really the right questions? Should we perhaps be asking questions, having discussions about what we want to be? Perhaps if we can come to some consensus about who we want to be, we can more easily discern what we need to be doing.

During the weekend we were also introduced to the work of the late Edwin Freidman. Freidman wrote and spoke extensively on the nature of leadership. He developed the idea of the differentiated leader; and among the qualities he believed characterise a differentiated leader are knowing where you end and the other begins, the ability to be clear about your own personal values and goals, the integrity to say “I” when others are demanding “we”. The differentiated leader doesn’t simply react to the actions and behaviours of others, but responds and by so doing can bring the community to a new place altogether. Again think of Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” (Matthew 5:38-39) Certainly what he suggests is a kind of foolishness, contrary to “the wisdom of this world”. Yet, paying closer attention we can discern how instead of reaction, he advises the counter-intuitive action. He advises remaining true to one’s personal values. Moreover, such a response on the part of the person struck does not allow the striker to define the situation: “You can hit me and threaten me, but you cannot make me bend my conscience, or force me to abandon my principles.” Such a response affirms that the actions of another need not condition my own. It moves me out realm of mere reaction, into that of action and response. As a leader it frees you to think clearly without simply responding to the latest and the loudest; you may not be popular but the leader who seeks facile popularity will end up an ineffective weathercock.

Both Fr Larry and Edwin Freidman warned us about the allure of the quick fix. There are no quick fixes to any problem. Let me say that again and more distinctly: There are no quick fixes to any problem. There is no programme one can develop, buy, introduce or implement which will alleviate the difficult circumstances in which a person or a community may find themselves. Freidman writes that the quick-fix mentality actually signifies “a low threshold for pain that constantly seeks symptom relief rather than fundamental change.” The quick fix usually whitewashes a problem in the hopes that if we cannot see it, it will disappear altogether. But problems and issues do not go away, the only way to deal with them is to engage in the hard work of resolution. The quick fix is a waste of time and energy doomed to failure and always ending in disappointment. Nevertheless, people in all walks of life, including in the Church, continue chasing the quick fix because the alternative just takes too long and is too painful. Freidman notes that “life processes evolve by taking their time…[and] there is no way out of a chronic condition without being willing to go through a temporarily more acute phase.” Think of the freed Hebrew slaves who opted for the quick fix of the golden calf; yet, in the end, to find a place of real health and life, they had to wander forty years in the desert. Their life process which moved them into their destiny “evolved by taking [its] time”. Effective leaders are not seduced by the quick fix, neither do they allow others to seduce them by it. Instead they are able to stay in the difficult places, resisting simple symptom relief while continuing patiently and sensitively to “focus on the fundamental change in the emotional processes that underlie [the] symptoms”. Imagine if Moses on coming down from the mountain and finding the people of Israel gathered round the golden calf said to himself: “Well they are not longer anxious or upset, they have found something to believe in, and that’s good enough.” No, there are no quick fixes, and good leaders don’t waste any time or energy on them.

Finally, one of the most powerful things Fr Larry told us is that the answer and solution to any issues we may have, anything we may perceive as problems is ourselves; not just the Vestry, but every member the Church of the Saviour. In one sense we do not have to do anything, just be what we are called to be – the Body of Christ in the world, the Episcopal Church in Hanford, witnesses to the wisdom of God. Let’s face it, it’s easier to just keep asking the same questions in the same way, and then wonder why nothing changes, instead of asking the really discerning and hard questions and perhaps confronting some even harder truths. Let’s face it, it feels friendlier if everyone just agrees and gets along, instead of taking the risk of upsetting someone by sticking to our principles. Let’s face it, it is easier to go for what just gets us by, continually re-arranging the chairs, as it were, instead of going through the pain and hassle of getting new chairs altogether. None of this is a programme or set of rules, but a shift in perspective, an adjustment in attitude. It is counter-intuitive and that makes taking the leap into it more daunting; still, Paul, in another of his letters, the letter to the Roman, writes “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We are being asked nothing less than to renew our minds, hearts and lives in order that God’s vision for us can be discerned by us here and revealed in the world.