“Put on the attitude of Christ.” – If you have ever heard me at the pulpit, you have probably heard those words. I have decided to take the opportunity this Lenten season to start this blog to explore that phrase. It is my hope that you will feel free to comment and question as we progress, so that we may learn from each other and through the eyes of faith.
I named this blog At the Crossroads, Where Christ Meets the City because this is a weekly venue with daily feedback, where we can discuss the Sunday messages as we figure out together how we are going to apply them throughout the week. Through these discussions, I believe we can become transformational leaders within our community, as we meet at the crossroads of the city.
One thing you are going to hear a lot about from me is Servant Leadership. The phrase Servant Leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay, he said:
"The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature."
Greenleaf says what sets Servant Leadership apart is the way it puts the needs of the people first. The litmus test for effective Servant Leadership is your answers to these questions that Greenleaf puts forth:
· Do those served grow as persons?
· Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?
· What is the effect on the least privileged in society?
· Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?
In his second major essay, The Institution as Servant, Robert K. Greenleaf articulated what is often called the "credo." He said:
"This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions - often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt. If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them."
During the Season of Lent – the great season of conversion and transformation in our lives as individuals and as faith communities – my hope is that we will utilize the contemporary insights of Robert K. Greenleaf – the Wisdom of Scripture and Tradition – and the current need of our society - in becoming, as Christians, faithful stewards of the contemporary city – seeing the city through the lens of faith.
What does Scripture have to say?
One of my favorites is St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians Chapter 2: 5 in which he says, “ Have among yourself the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus… who… did not regard equality with God something to be grasped… rather emptying himself, taking the form of a servant.”
The Gospel of John reflects Jesus’ attitude in the washing of the disciples’ feet. “If I therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you should also do.” John13: 14-15.
Humility is allowing ourselves to recognize first our dependence on God – emptying ourselves in order for the Church (the Body of Christ -) to more readily allow the disposition or attitude of Christ to become part our life, so that as St. Paul says, “it is no longer I that live, but Christ in me.”?
For a primer on Servant Leadership, click here.
Do you think that many are unable to effectively serve brecause they are actually victims...maybe not literally hungry, thirsty, naked, prisoners...but entrapped by something that makes them hungry, thirsty...Do we need to also those who appear whole so that they can become servants? I think many of us do not even recognize these needs or have buried them
ReplyDeleteI believe that the most recognizable, “the forgotten Christ” , is found in those disenfranchised and marginalized. These are the ones for whom we cannot “spiritualize” their hunger or thirst, their nakedness or homelessness. These are the ones who fill our prisons, hospitals, nursing homes. These
Deleteare those sleeping under the bridges and in the doorways. These are the growing number of children in our country – as well as – the 10,000 children who die each day from starvation in other parts of the world. Each of these who are the Beloved of God; feeling the real pain of empty stomachs - and a wide
spectrum of loss on so many levels.
But I believe there those among us whom we could name the “invisible hungry”, who possess much but become the victims of a society that is moving so fast and is so busy that we pass each other by – sometimes living in the same house, same neighborhood, and same school. We become invisible to each other, unaware of the desperation that sometimes touches their lives. For beneath the surface lies the hunger for love or care, forgiveness and compassion that groans in silence.
Would you say that for some it may be difficult to serve thier neighbor's needs when one can not serve his own family and friends. Even when one want and desires to give service. Is it acceptable to give spiritual service when one can not give material service at the moment the service is needed?
ReplyDeleteAbraham Maslow provides us with a model in his Hierarchy of Need Pyramid. Here is the link to view this pyramid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs
DeleteThe needs identified toward the bottom of the pyramid, e.g. food, water, and shelter, security and shelter, become the most consuming awareness in a person’s life - the survival of self or family. The ability to rise above the basic realities of life - beyond the survival needs–is sabotaged by the real everyday experience on the street. The questions is can a person consciously attend to the more heightened needs on the pyramid if working two or three jobs trying to survive? It appears to become much more of a challenge.
A single mother recently told me, “It’s hard to feel like a good mother, when your children are asking why they don’t have this or that – when all their friends do. “ Working two jobs at minimum wage, with four children, doesn’t allow a lot of time for the development of those human and personal needs higher up on the hierarchy.
For the one struggling to survive – reality is pretty up close and personal – putting food on the table, paying the gas bill, not having my electricity turned off, trying to rest in-between jobs, hoping my car won’t break down on my way to work, and hoping that my kids don’t get in trouble in school – because the boss has told me if I have to leave work again to attend to my kids – I am out of a job. That is survival - up close and personal.
To answer your question, can one give spiritual service? I would say definitely. There are many who are struggling for survival who still are able to keep others in prayer, teach and show their children how to help their neighbor in the projects, take their children to church. I see them taking care of their elderly neighbor, sharing the little food they have, giving of themselves in ways that we can’t imagine. This I believe comes from the very core of their lives - the Spirit of God within.
obviously there are material needs that we can certainly provide and those are more easily identified and available. How can we help to make the changes that will have lasting effects on lives? I think this is a question that requires some serious consideration.
ReplyDeleteI heard alot of talk about reaching out to the community.It seems that what it was,just talk.I haven't been able to attend mass for awhile because my mobility has gotten worse.I haven't had one person from church reach out to me to see why I haven't been there!I was disabled when I attended.It hasn't made me feel that I mattered.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that no one has reached out to you. Please, if you can please call the parish office here at Christ the Servant, so that we can place you on our visitation and communion schedule. There are times that the "forgotten Christ" is the parishioner who has become ill or unable to come to mass - and we need to be reminded so that no one is forgotten. I certainly apologize that you are been forgotten - and today I will keep you in prayer.
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