The Servant-Leader

There seems to be a lack of great leaders in our society. It's easy to be the person in charge, it's easy to be named head-honcho, but it's a totally other thing to have the skill and knowledge to do the next right thing as a leader. In politics, where are the great leaders? In business, where are the great leaders? In culture, where are the great leaders? In religion, where are the great leaders?

Yes, there are people calling the shots, but where are the people with the courage, the integrity, the wisdom to call to make the right decisions? The temptation is to not consider yourself a leader, to avoid the responsibilities of leading those in need around you. Maybe there is a lack of great leaders because too many give in to the temptation to stay quiet, to not get too involved, to not care so much.

For all Christians who serve and care and get involved in the messiness of other people's lives, we must learn to be great leaders. Not just great leaders, but servant-leaders like Jesus.  Henri Nouwen reflects on this:

After having asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" Jesus says, "Feed my lambs, look after my sheep, feed my sheep." Having been assured of Peter's love, Jesus gives him the task of ministry. In the context of our culture we might hear this in a very individualistic way as if Peter now was being sent on a heroic mission.

But when Jesus speaks about shepherding, he does not want us to think about a brave, lonely shepherd who takes care of a large flock of obedient sheep. In many ways, he makes it clear that ministry is communal and mutual experience.

First of all, Jesus sends the twelve out in pairs. We keep forgetting that we are being sent out two by two. We cannot bring good news on our own. We are called to proclaim the Gospel together, in community.

I need my brothers and sisters to pray with me, to speak with me about the spiritual task at hand, and to challenge me to stay pure in mind, heart, and body. But far more importantly, it is Jesus who heals, not I; Jesus who speaks words of truth, not I; Jesus who is Lord, not I. This is very clearly made visible when we proclaim the redeeming power of God together.

Ministry is not only a communal experience, it is also a mutual experience. Jesus, speaking about his own shepherding ministry, says, "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep." As Jesus ministers, so he wants us to minister.

He wants Peter to feed his sheep and care for them, not as "professionals" who know their clients' problems and take care of them, but as vulnerable brothers and sisters who know and are known, who care and are cared for, who forgive and are being forgiven, who love and are being loved. Somehow we have come to believe that good leadership requires a safe distance from those we are called to lead.

But how can anyone lay down his life for those with whom he is not even allowed to enter into a deep relationship? Laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life.

We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for. The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God.

Therefore true ministry must be mutual. When the members of a community of faith cannot truly know and love their shepherd, shepherding quickly becomes a subtle way of exercising power over others and begins to show authoritarian and dictatorial traits. The world in which we live - a world of efficiency and control - has no models to offer to show who wants to be shepherds in the way Jesus was a shepherd.

The leadership about which Jesus speaks is of a radically different kind from the leadership offered by the world. It is a servant leadership in which the leader is a vulnerable servant who needs the people as much as they need him or her.

From this it is clear that a whole new type of leadership is asked for in the Church of tomorrow, a leadership which is not modeled on the power games of the world, but on the servant-leader, Jesus, who came to give his life for the salvation of many.
~In the Name of Jesus, pg39-45

Who Can Do It All Alone

Life was not meant to be lived alone. You ought to live such that you have at least one good friend. To have a friend, be a friend. And when it comes to ministry, no one ought to serve and care for others all alone. Christian ministry flows out of a community. While everyone may have different skills and knowledge to contribute, we need each other.

But in our culture, within the church and throughout our society, there is a special place in our hearts for those people that can thrive and achieve something great all by themselves. We have a special admiration for those gifted and talented women and men who can do so much seemingly all alone.
It is a mirage.

The downside of this mirage is that we become disappointed in ourselves when we need someone. We hold it against ourselves if we must lean on another in order to succeed. Thus even our achievements are cheapened because we couldn't do it all alone. We become miserable in our loneliness, as well as in our companionship. Ack!

What is the Christian to do - the one who wants to serve and lift up and listen and heal and be good news? Be in community. Let others into your life. Don't seek to go it alone. Cooperation and collaboration reflect your desire for community and accomplishment. Jesus may have gotten a lot more done all by himself, but he was fully human, and he chose twelve men to spend some years with him. And that was a better way.

Here are some reflections by Henri Nouwen on the temptation to do it all alone - life and ministry:

The second temptation to which Jesus was exposed was precisely the temptation to do something spectacular, something that could win him great applause. "Throw yourself from the parapet of the temple and let the angels catch you and carry you in their arms." But Jesus refused to be a stunt man. He did not come to prove himself.

When you look at today's Church, it is easy to see the prevalence of individualism among ministers and priests. Not too many of us have a vast repertoire of skills to be proud of, but most of us still feel that, if we have anything at all to show, it is something we have to do solo.

You could say that many of us feel like failed tightrope walkers who discovered that we did not have the power to draw thousands of people, that we could not make many conversions, that we did not have the talents to create beautiful liturgies, that we were not as popular with the youth, the young adults, or the elderly as we had hoped, and that we were not able to respond to the needs of our people as we had expected.

But most of us still feel that, ideally, we should have been able to do it all and do it successfully.

Stardom and individual heroism, which are such obvious aspects of our competitive society, are not at all alien to the Church. There too the dominant image is that of the self-made man or woman who can do it all alone.
~In the Name of Jesus, pg39-39

Prayer That Keeps You Rooted

What's prayer all about for you? Is it about getting stuff from God? Is it a divine 911 call-line? Is it just one more thing to feel guilty about not doing? Is it a source of skepticism and disappointment?

As a Christian who wants to make a difference for God and for good, you kinda hafta be a praying person. How could you be a Christian leader, a minister of Jesus, a priest who mediates between God and humanity if you don't do much meditation? If you're not talking to God much, how can you help others become rooted in him? If you're not doing much listening to Him, why should anyone do any listening to you?

I get it: you're stuck between the desire to help - you have a caring heart, BUT you're also busy and don't have a lot of time to give to praying, you have a lot on your mind, and you're often tempted to disbelieve that praying makes a big difference. Am I close? Is this you? It's sometimes me.

These words from Henri Nouwen about contemplative prayer and Christian leaders - it's what I needed to hear today:

Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well-informed opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and they need to find there the source for their words, advice, and guidance.

Through the discipline of contemplative prayer, Christians leaders have to learn to listen again and again to the voice of love and to find there the wisdom and courage to address whatever issue presents itself to them. Dealing with burning issues without being rooted in a deep personal relationship with God easily leads to divisiveness, because before we know it, our sense of self is caught up in our opinion about a given subject.

But when we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain flexible without being relativistic, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft, and true witnesses without being manipulative.
~ In the Name of Jesus, pg31-32

Most of us are one step away from contemplative prayer. We already worry. We obsess. We go over stuff in our head. We lay awake at night mulling things over, trying to figure out what is going on and what to do next. Contemplative prayer includes God in on what you've got going inside your mind already. You're thinking about something with your kids. Include God in on it. Your marriage is causing confusion. Include God in on it. Work or school is a source of anxiety. Include God in on your swirling thoughts.

Contemplative prayer keeps you rooted in what God is doing already - in you, through you, in others. Direct your deep and constant concerns towards God. He listens to you, and then you...listen...to...him.... To know God is to trust him, to be rooted in him. To lead and love in the name of Jesus is to listen to Him.

To Know and To Love

What do you look for in a Christian leader?

As Christianity continues to decline in the West, what ought to be the priority for Christian leaders?

We live in the wealthiest nation EVER! Wealth of information, wealth of opportunity, wealth of stuff. And yet we are one of the most obese, medicated, lonely peoples ever. Within our swirling culture, what is the best contribution a Christian leader can make? As a priest - a mediator between God and humanity - what is our task in these confusing and turbulent days?

Henri Nouwen has this to say about the Christian leader of the future:

The Christian leader of the future is the one who truly knows the heart of God as it has become flesh, "a heart of flesh," in Jesus.

Knowing God's heart means consistently, radically, and very concretely to announce and reveal that God is love and only love, and that every time fear, isolation, or despair begin to invade the human soul this is not something that comes from God.

Knowing the heart of Jesus and loving him are the same thing. The knowledge of Jesus' heart is a knowledge of the heart. And when we live in the world with that knowledge, we cannot do other than bring healing, reconciliation, new life and hope wherever we go.

The desire to be relevant and successful will gradually disappear, and our only desire will be to say with our whole being to our brothers and sisters of the human race, "You are loved. There is no reason to be afraid."
~In the Name of Jesus, pg 25, 27

If you want to make a difference in your own home, if you want to expand your heart, you are invited to know Jesus. You must step forward and lead your self, your family, your friends into a new place of hope and healing. You must become a leader by actually leading - taking initiative, planning ahead, bringing others along with you, implementing change. Your home needs you to be a leader. Your church needs it. Your work needs it. Your school needs it. You need it.

To know Jesus - his words, his works, his way - is to know his loyalty to you, his faithfulness, his devotion and sacrifice and trustworthiness. He is to us what he wants us to be to others. To let him lead you is how you are able to lead others. This may be a new definition of leadership for you. In light of how things are going, I'd say we probably need a new kind of leader for the future. A different kind of Christian for tomorrow. One through whom others know and love Jesus.

In Our World of Loneliness and Despair

As Christians who care, we work to bring hope and help to a situation. We minister as priests, mediators between God and humanity - for God is the one who fuels hope and sustains real help. When we bring hope and help to our neighbor, we let it come from Him through us. As little Christ's, we follow in the way of Jesus, meeting others in their hard times with a heart of love, a heart that knows God.

Henri Nouwen writes at length about Jesus and our hearts and hope:

Look at Jesus. The world did not pay any attention to him. He was crucified and put away. His message of love was rejected by a world in search of power, efficiency, and control.

But there he was, appearing with wounds in his glorified body to a few friends who had eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand. This rejected, unknown, wounded Jesus simply asked, "Do you love me, do you really love me?" He whose only concern had been to announce the unconditional love of God had only one question to ask, "Do you love me?"

The question is not: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show some results? But: Are you in love with Jesus? Perhaps another way of putting the question would be: Do you know the incarnate God?

In our world of loneliness and despair, there is an enormous need for men and women who know the heart of God, a heart that forgives, that cares, that reaches out and wants to heal. In that heart there is no suspicion, no vindictiveness, no resentment, and not a tinge of hatred. It is a heart that wants only to give love and receive love in response.

It is a heart that suffers immensely because it sees the magnitude of human pain and the great resistance to trusting the heart of God who wants to offer consolation and hope.

Are you in need of hope?

Are you in need of help?

When you reach out to God, he responds in love - he can identify with your loneliness and despair. He meets you where you are at. The greatest difficulty in asking God for help is that you must trust Him, trust His way of helping. If He prompts you to forgive, you must trust Him to forgive. If He moves you to stay loyal, you must trust Him and do so. If He brings someone into your life that offers wisdom and companionship for the long journey, you'll need to trust Him on it and go along.

God will answer your prayers for hope and help by bringing someone alongside you with a heart that knows the heart of God and can be a conduit for his healing love. You must be be willing to receive the answer to your prayers.

And for you, Christian, that cares: are you willing to be part of God's answer to those who whisper "Help..."

Irrelevant and Truly Self-Confident

What's at the heart of Christian ministry? If you are a Christian, and you do any kind of serving, caring, helping, praying, etc, you are doing ministry. That makes you a Christian minister. A little Christ ministering in the way of Jesus. What is central to ministering in the name of Christ?

Henri Nouwen puts it like this:

Before Jesus commissioned Peter to be a shepherd he asked him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others do?" He asked him again, "Do you love me?" And a third time he asked, "Do you love me?"

We have to hear that question as being central to all of our Christian ministry because it is the question that can allow us to be, at the same time, irrelevant and truly self-confident.
~In the Name of Jesus, p23

To be irrelevant is to be free. Free from unrealistic expectations. Free from legalistic burdens. To be irrelevant is to be free to be led by the Spirit of God. And to be self-confident - most of us can only dream of becoming such. To be self-confident in our serving, in our caring, in our helping, in our listening, in our correcting, in our mentoring, in our loving...such is the way of Jesus.

Let Jesus ask you the question he put to Peter. Listen to the probing interrogation. He is looking into your eyes - that strong, steady, gentle, intense gaze: Do. You. Love. Me?

A Deep Current of Despair

When you are out in public, do you ever people-watch? You may already know that body-language makes up about 80% of personal communication. You can tell a lot about a person by how they walk, how they stand and lean and slouch and shuffle. Not everything, but a lot. Behind the make-up, behind the clothes, behind the attitude, what do you see?

As someone who cares, as a Christian who ministers, as a priest who mediates between God and humanity, what do you do with what is really going on inside others? Do you realize what is churning inside of so many of us?

Henri Nouwen has these penetrating insights into the reality of those who minister and those we see:

In this climate of secularization, Christian leaders feel less and less relevant and more and more marginal. Many begin to wonder why they should stay in the ministry. Often they leave, develop a new competency, and join their contemporaries in their attempts to make relevant contributions to a better world.

But there is a completely different story to tell. Beneath all the great accomplishments of our time there is a deep current of despair. While efficiency and control are the great aspirations of our society, the loneliness, isolation, lack of friendship and intimacy, broken relationships, boredom, feelings of emptiness and depression, and a deep sense of uselessness fill the hearts of millions of people in our success-oriented world.

And the cry that arises...is: Is there anybody who loves me; is there anybody who really cares? Is there anybody who wants to stay home for me? Is there anybody who wants to be with me when I am not in control, when I feel like crying? Is there anybody who can hold me and give me a sense of belonging?

Feeling irrelevant is a much more general experience than we might think when we look at our seemingly self-confident society. Medical technology and the tragic increase in abortions may radically diminish the number of mentally handicapped people in our society, but it is already becoming apparent that more and more people are suffering from profound moral and spiritual handicaps without having any idea of where to look for healing.

It is here that the need for a new Christian leadership becomes clear. The leader of the future will be the one who dares to claim his irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows him or her to enter into deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success and to bring the light of Jesus there.
~In the Name of Jesus, p20-23

Does that resonate with you?

The new Christian leader will enter into deep solidarity with those caught up in the deep current of despair - and bring the light of Jesus there.

To the despairing: may enough Christians hear your cry and see your eyes and enter into solidarity with you, bringing the light of Jesus to you.

They Are Very Busy

We've been making the contention that every Christian is a priest. Our role of mediation between God and humanity takes the form of ministry. Through our actions, our works, our deeds we reveal the mercy and will of God in the world, we become the answers to the prayers of the people. In our everyday life at work and home and school and church, while shopping and dining and playing and strolling, with the people we come across in our day - this is also where we mediate and minister.

Do you ever wonder if you are ever really making a difference? Are there moments that make you think that all your help and ministering is for naught? Whether you get paid to be a minister or you volunteer - you've probably faced those moments of self-doubt: does my ministry matter? Should I continue?

Henri Nouwen has been in that place, and here's what he writes about it:

One of the main sufferings experienced in the ministry is that of low self-esteem. Many priests and ministers today increasingly perceive themselves as having very little impact. They are very busy, but they do not see much change.

It seems that their efforts are fruitless. They face an ongoing decrease in church attendance and discover that psychologists, psychotherapists, marriage counselors, and doctors are often more trusted than they. Meanwhile, there is little praise and much criticism in the Church today, and who can live for long in such a climate without slipping into some type of depression?

The secular world around us is saying in a loud voice, "We can take care of ourselves. We do not need God, the Church, or a priest. We are in control. And if we are not, then we have to work harder to get in control. The problem is not lack of faith, but lack of competence."
~In the Name of Jesus, p19-20

It's ironic: the people who need help, well part of their problem is that they are very busy; and the people who want to help, well they are very busy helping. We are all very busy! Who is the man, who is the woman who will step out in faith and refuse to be busy? It would take great imagination to conceive of a life that is not dominated by being busy - and it would require you to not be busy. What to do?

If you want to really help someone, you must trust God to guide your steps - He will not cause you to be too busy. If you want help - if you really want God's help - you must trust him to slow down your steps so that you are not so busy.
You can't do reflection and repentance on the run.
You can't change your heart if you're too busy to cook a meal at home with your family. 

Reading the Gospels, one never gets the sense that Jesus was busy. He worked hard, he suffered, he applied himself diligently, but he wasn't busy. To serve in the name of Jesus does not require you to be busy. 

To receive the help of Jesus will require you to slow down - this sometimes looks like the wheels falling off of your life. Consider it a blessing. Incompetence is not necessarily your problem, rather it's your unwillingness to trust God's way. Your way makes you too busy and impotent. You can find a new way.

Temptation To Be Relevant

So you find yourself caring. You care about the people in your life. You care about your community. You care about the burning issues of your day. You care about victims of earthquakes and political revolutions. Like Jesus, you care.

Henri Nouwen thinks that Jesus' first temptation was to be relevant. It's a temptation that almost every pastor faces, every Christian who cares about their church and family members and neighbor faces. Here's what Nouwen writes:

Are we not called to do something that makes people realize that we do make a difference in their lives? Aren't we called to heal the sick, feed the hungry, and alleviate the suffering of the poor?

Jesus was faced with these same questions, but when he was asked to prove his power as the Son of God by the relevant behavior of changing stones to bread, he clung to his mission to proclaim the word and said, "Human beings live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes form the mouth of God."
~In the Name of Jesus, p18-19

It's worth reflecting on why Jesus refused the devil's offer. Maybe it's a simple answer: always reject what the devil offers! But the opposite would be: always accept what God offers. Which is exactly what Jesus ends up saying. It sounds so easy! But the devil knows how to offer an alternative way that comes across as very appealing. Very appealing. And convenient. And helpful. Relevant.

Why do you want to help people? When it comes to caring for people, how much of it is about you? When you reach out to someone, do you ever let God prompt you forward? Does the way of Jesus determine your course of action, or do you let yourself get driven by your own desires for compassion?

There is no substitute for knowing God's word to his people. If you are a Christian, and you don't ever let God's word direct your steps of help and compassion, you may find yourself merely turning stones to bread. You maybe be popular and helpful, but you aren't connecting people to the God who saves and rescues and heals. The temptation to be relevant is powerful, it is hard to resist.

Called To Be Completely Irrelevant

What makes for a good Christian leader? What are the qualities you look for?

How would you know if you were a good Christian leader?

Here's what Henri Nouwen has to say about it:

...I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. That is the way Jesus came to reveal God's love.

The great message that we have to carry, as ministers of God's word and followers of Jesus, is that God loves us not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love and has chosen us to proclaim that love as the true source of human life.

How do these thoughts alter your perspective of what makes for a good Christian leader?

Too often we feel like we must choose between an effective leader and a loving leader. A leader needs to be effective, but a Christian leader must also be one who loves in the name of Jesus. Without love, that leader is like a annoying, clanging cymbal. 

Your willingness to offer your vulnerable self to God and your neighbor, in the name of Jesus, positions you for Christian leadership. Your ability to express the way God loves you - not in superspiritual lingo, not with big Christianese phrases - enables you to minister to others. This is Christian leadership at its core - leading people and organizations and communities into a way of life of loving your neighbor as God loves you.

The temptation is to skimp on love. The temptation is to continually think of yourself as a loving person. The temptation is to believe in the power of love without being a conduit for the power of love. As a Christian you have nothing to offer but your own vulnerable self, loved by God.

To some this is the way of irrelevance. But it is the way of Jesus.

Does Becoming Older Bring Me Closer to Jesus?

Becoming older can merely make us cynical or stiff-necked. But it can also make us wiser and sweeter. When it comes to knowing Jesus, the experiences that come from getting older can draw us closer to him, or push us further away. That temptation never ceases.

For Henri Nouwen, he puts it like this:

Did becoming older bring me closer to Jesus? After twenty-five years in the priesthood, I found myself praying poorly, living somewhat isolated from other people, and very much preoccupied with burning issues. Everyone was saying that I was doing really well, but something inside me was telling me that my success was putting my own soul in danger.

I began to ask myself whether my lack of contemplative prayer, my loneliness, and my constantly changing involvement in what seemed most urgent were signs that the Spirit was gradually being suppressed. It was very hard for me to see clearly, and though I never spoke about hell or only jokingly so, I woke up one day with the realization that I was living in a very dark place and that the term "burnout" was a convenient psychological translation for a spiritual death.

In the midst of this, I kept praying, "Lord, show me where you want me to go and I will follow you, but please be clear and unambiguous about it!" Well God was.

As a Christian, you may not think of yourself as a priest, but you are. If you are trying to help your friends or family get to know God better, you are doing the work of a priest. If you care about the faith of others, you have the heart of a priest. And every Christian who cares and takes initiative and gets involved at some point faces burnout. We suppress the Spirit. This also is a temptation that never ceases.

Does your current way of life make contemplative prayer unrealistic? Are you surrounded by people, yet still feeling disconnected and lonely? Do you find yourself caring about burning issues in the lives of people around you, yet you find yourself filled with low-grade despair about people and their possibility of changing? Is getting older as a Christian resulting in you becoming closer to Jesus?

So what is it about becoming older as a Christian that helps me become close to Jesus? The temptation is to dismiss the question. Or to answer it too quickly, too hastily. The following blogposts will address these issues, using Scripture texts from Jesus in the Wilderness, and Jesus' to Peter to become a Shepherd.

God is a God of the Present

You are a Christian. You are a priest. You are a leader. You face temptations.

Henri Nouwen was in this category as well, and he was asked to speak about Christian leadership in the twenty-first century. He writes this:

But after having said "Yes" to the invitation, I realized that it was far from easy to come up with a sane perspective on Christian leadership in the coming century.

I wondered how it would be possible to look ahead of me, when I considered that nobody in the fifties could have forseen the situation of most priests [and Christian leaders] today.

I came to see that I should not worry about tomorrow, next week, next year, or the next century. The more willing I was to look honestly at what I was thinking and saying and doing now, the more easily I would come in touch with the movement of God's Spirit in me, leading me to the future.

God is a God of the present and reveals to those who are willing to listen carefully to the moment in which they live the steps they are to take toward the future. "Do not worry about tomorrow," Jesus says, "tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34).

You may not feel like you are a priest, or a leader, or a very good Christian, but you are quite aware of your temptations. Your way out of your temptations will be how you blossom as a Christian, become a helpful leader, and a caring priest. You may just want delivered from your temptations without all the leadership and priest stuff. I'm not sure that's the way it works.

God is still God in your present circumstances - no matter how confusing or disappointing or fulfilling. No matter how you perceive your situation, there is still the desperate need to listen carefully to Him about your next steps into the future. Your temptations can be an ongoing burden to you, or, when you get in touch with God's Spirit, they can be the gateway to a new day. Welcome to the way of becoming a Christian priest and leader.

Your Temptations & Tomorrow

If you are a Christian, you are a priest.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. [1Peter 2v9-10]

You may not ever think of yourself as a priest, you may not be able to point out actions in your life that reveal you to be a priest, but that doesn't make the identity less true.

As a priest, you face temptations. One of those temptations is too see yourself as disqualified for priesthood, or deny that you are in fact part of a royal priesthood. The temptation may be to see yourself as unusable, as part of a useless community.

A priest is one who mediates between your neighbor and God. When you pray for someone, you are doing the work of a priest. When you listen to someone talk about God, you are being a priest to them. When you help someone forgive, when you help someone understand the Scriptures, when you guide people into truth and grace as taught us by Jesus, you are being a priest. When you love your neighbor as a way to love God, you are being a priest. To be a Christian is to be a priest.

Priests face deadly temptations. Peter the Apostle writes with this reality in mind:

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. [1Peter 2v11-12]

Not only is a priest a mediator between God and man, and not only does a priest face deadly temptations, but a priest is also a leader. This is a self-evident point, but it is too often overlooked. A priest who wrote true and helpful words about priesthood and leadership, Henri Nouwen, has some keen observations on Christian leadership in our century.

By reading his writings for Lent, my hope is that you will more fully embrace your identity as a priest, that you will find courage and wisdom to overcome temptations, and a vision for what your life as a leader can look like for others.

Anchor needs you to be a priest who embraces the task of leadership. Tomorrow needs you to accept your tasks today. Your friends need this, your family needs this, you need to do this. Temptations will never cease, and thus there is always the need for priests to help others overcome and recover. You need a priest to help you, and others need you to be the priest to help them. To be the Anchor is to be the priest to your neighbor.

You may find all this talk about being a priest rather odd, uncomfortable, or heretical.

May you not be so turned off or tuned out that you miss an opportunity to stretch your understanding of your life in Christ. It could be that your view of the world is too small. Your Jesus may be too small. Your perspective of who you are in Christ may be too small. The temptation may be to avoid obedience tomorrow by keeping your faith small today.

How'd Your Second Day of Lent Go?

What did you give up for Lent?

How's it going on your second day? 

I've already failed. At a meeting for pastors, no less!

I worked hard all day to avoid snacking on dessert stuff. And then I went to the Associated Churches Meet -n- Greet tonight and mindlessly grabbed two oatmeal raisin cookies. Ack! I didn't even think about what I did until I got home later that night. So tomorrow is a new day. And a birthday party! Oh my... what will I do?

Oh well. I'm at the beginning of an adventure. I only fail if I quit. And I'm not going to quit. So I guess I didn't fail...

I'm reminded of the kind of intentionality it takes to make a change. It's hard to keep with a commitment. Others might think it trivial what you give up for Lent. But don't underestimate the good of denying yourself. Whether it's desserts or pop or chocolate or meat or beer or smokes or porn or hate - whatever it is you decided to give up for Lent - the act of giving something up that you are attached too... this is good for you. Small or significant, putting the energy into different forms of fasting builds spiritual strength. 

You probably need more spiritual strength. Lent is a good season for testing yourself in the area of self-denial. Not in a spirit of legalism, but in spiritual development and reflection. You need to let go of some unnecessary things in order to receive what you need. 

So even if you're already struggling with your Lenten commitment, don't give up. The struggle is good for you. Don't quit. Yet. Let the struggle and the faltering prompt you to pray and reflect and try again. And again. Forty days can make a difference in your life.

You can do it.

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

If you were going to spend the day praying, here are a few suggestions:

* Focus on praying at some point in the morning, mid-afternoon, and in the evening. You can either set a specific time, or just be mindful of a general time frame.

* Instead of praying "made-up-spontaneous-prayers" (which have their place), I'm suggesting you pray this scripted prayer, a modified version of the Lord's Prayer and the Great Commandment. When the disciples asked Jesus about how to pray, this is what he taught us.

* When you do pray, repeat the prayer several times - a form of meditation. As you do this, focus on a phrase, on a word that seems to lodge in your head and heart. The repetition lets the prayer settle deeper within you, sparks reflection and imagination.

* This isn't a legalistic religious task, but a spiritual formation opportunity. We are spiritual beings, and specific kinds of prayers and reflection open us up to the Way of Jesus and the direction of God's Spirit. 

Here is a suggested prayer for Ash Wednesday:

Our Father in Heaven,
Holy is your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done:
To love the Lord our God
With all our heart, soul, mind and strength;
And to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday.
The following day is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

Fat Tuesday is a fun day of celebration, preparation for the solemn day of Ash Wednesday. It's famously known by it's French name, Mardi Gras. It's also known in England as Pancake Tuesday. Feasting on extra rich pancakes with lots of fun toppings, with family and friends, knowing you'll be hungry the next day.

If you are willing, I invite you to make Ash Wednesday a day of prayer and reflection. You can do this by fasting – either skipping all meals for the day, or at least one.

When you fast, you typically still drink water – depending on your health, you may need to eat a fruit or small piece of wheat bread.

The hunger that comes from fasting is both a reminder of our Lord’s days in the Wilderness, but is also a reminder to pray and reflect on our appetites, on our desires, on our life with God.

If you were going to make Ash Wednesday a special day of prayer and reflection, a suggestion would be to center it around the Lord’s Prayer. You could keep it simple and pray it three times: morning, noon, and night. Another option would be to pray it every hour.

Or, to pray it throughout the day whenever the Spirit prompts you. Or a combo of those three options. The point is that you are slowly working your way through the prayer Jesus taught us – letting the words and ideas sink into your heart, letting them shape your words to God.

When praying the Lord’s Prayer, you may find that different phrases impact you at different points of the day, depending on how the day is going. You may find that you don’t quite understand what Jesus is asking you to pray, which will prompt good reflection. Or it may be convicting. You may also find yourself repeating the prayer over and over and over again. I often pray this prayer when I don’t know what else to pray – I let Jesus' prayer give me the words for the concerns I carry within me.

On Ash Wednesday, not only is it a day of reflection on the Lord’s Prayer, but it can also be a day of giving up something for Lent. Whether it is a particular food or drink, it can also be an addiction or bad habit, something on your schedule or some leisure activity, whatever you pick, it’s something that you’ll miss. It’s a form of fasting you start on Ash Wednesday, but continue over the whole Lenten Season.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday, the next day being Easter Sunday. May your season of prayer and fasting provide the Resurrected Lord with opportunities to dig around in your soul and mind, may He plant new seeds of hope in you as you make room for Him and His words.