Tag: Leadership

Reading For Wisdom & Redemption In 2020

What books did you read in 2020 that you’d recommend? Here’s my Top 10 (& 20, &30, and more) for books that helped me make more sense of 2020, for redeeming it, and enjoying it.

The year 2020, for me started off in wonder, anticipation and joy. The first eight weeks included preparation for and the experience of the visiting Y’s and sacred sites in the Holy Land with the YMCA OnPrinciple cohort.

Upon returning, the rumblings of the COVID pandemic could no longer be ignored, and within weeks we were in lockdown, quarantined at home, facing unprecedented uncertainties.

My vocation, my work with the YMCA, and my family situation gave me strategic time to read. Three themes intersected: how to strengthen the Christian presence of the YMCA, how to do this in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) reality with the pandemic and economic disruption, amidst resurgence of overdue racial inequity protests across the country. All this hardship exacerbated by the outrageous, slanderous, inflammatory politic rhetoric by irresponsible power-mongers.

How did we get here, what is next? Christianly? Racially? Politically? Morally? Economically? Religious & Spiritually? For the YMCA? For the Church?

Based on material I had been reading for years, and shaped by timely recommendations of trusted friends, here is my reading list for 2020, in my striving to gain wisdom and nurture redemption in our chaotic, dangerous, yet beautiful world.

I’d be glad for more recommendations of what to read in 2021.

Tim’s 2020 Top Ten Books


( * = unfinished / + = reread portions annually)

God’s Gamble, by Gil Bailie

Revolutionary theology integrating Christian reflections of Rene Girard for our culture and mimetic realities.

Jesus and the Disinherited, by Howard Thurman

Raw, candid, wise, hopeful meditations by a black preacher for his black congregation, a world leader writing out how to survive as a black Christian in early 20th century America.

The Protestant Era, by Paul Tillich

What’s going on with the withering of Protestant Christianity in America? Tillich asks tough questions, he digs deep into the beliefs and practices which are shaping our seeming decline.

New Creation As Metropolis, by Gibson Winter

A hopeful and grounded vision of how Christians in the church can be participants in the flourishing of their community.

A Better Hope, by Stanley Hauerwas

Provocative; a unique, refreshing yet disturbing take on how Christians can embody our Lord Jesus in the dark realities of this American culture.

Christianity and Power Politics, by Reinhold Niebuhr

Brilliant insights of the early 20th century that still resonate today for how Christians leverage their power for the gospel and their community. Shaped by the horrors of the Great War and emerging Nazism, this is crucial content that needs to be re-engaged and adapted for us now.

The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin

Poetic, empathetic, brutally honest, searching, yearning, wounded; a hard look at reality for a talented black man in a Christian country.

Go Set A Watchman, by Harper Lee

It’s connected with the storyline of To Kill A Mockingbird, but it stands on its own. A fascinating yet rough read, if you let it be, for upending assumptions and opening up disturbing realities about oneself.

Roots, by Alex Haley

I’ll never be the same. Literal tears stain the pages of my book.

The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan

A history for which I know to little, and from what I do think I know, I now know reality is much more complex, painful, and yet hopeful. A genuinely unique story, and a very good one.

Bonus (& reread): The Source, James Michener

My third time reading it, this time to prepare for my trip to the Holy Land again, this tine with the YMCA. The storyline, the scope of the ages, the humanity, the cultures – while there is much to critique, it does provide a humbling yet awe inspiring take on our humanity, our faith, and our future.

Out of the 60+ books I read this year (or reread, or started, finished, or read partially) here’s the second half of the top twenty:

Strategic Doing, by Ed Morrison – practical system for community collaboration, especially in a VUCA world; rich, thoughtful, humane, successful content.

Letters from the Desert, by Carlos Caretto – spiritual reflections from a real man in the real world, with a European perspective in the north African wilderness.

*A Palestinian Cry for Reconciliation, by Naim Stifan Ateek – passionate liberation theology of Christian leaders striving against impossible odds to do God’s will with love towards their enemies and justice for all.

The Death of Race, by Brian Bantum – the personal and probing theologizing opens up for me ways that race and Christianity are intimately intertwined in America, of ways forward, in Christ.

*The Kingdom of God in America, by Reinhold Niebuhr – a step back into time, when American Christian theologians work with the Church Fathers, Greek philosophers, European theologians, to address our pragmatic US political and religious culture, shaped deeply by the Great War, the Great Depression, and the aftershocks of the Enlightenment- which is still the case in 2020, just more complicated.

*Christianity and Civilisation, by Emil Brunner – a fresh, rejuvenating European take on ways Christendom has shaped our world, and how to move forward; a fan of the YMCA and one who eloquently writes out the implicit beliefs of the Y.

*The End of History and The Last Man, by Franics Fukuyama – still relevant, still insightful, still necessary reading to make sense of 2020.

Be The Bridge, by Latasha Morrison – a crucial Christian contribution to the personal and cultural work of racial reconciliation; it is personal, practical, hopeful.

*For The Life of the World, by Alexander Schnemamm – an American Russian Orthodox priest and professor making accessible the beauty and compelling theotic reality of the Eucharist for life in American culture.

The Great Bridge, by David McCullough – gritty story of genius and corrupt New York characters building the enduring Brooklyn Bridge. A great tale of greatness in early American civilization.

Bonus: The Evening and the Morning, by Ken Follett – I love these tales of cathedrals, the loving attention to detail of the structures, the history, and the people who you grow to admire, root for, and hate. This prequel was unexpected, and a pure delight.

For the final set of the top thirty:

Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now, by Maya Angelou

+The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective, Richard Rohr

+The Wisdom of the Enneagram, by Russ Hudson and Don Riso

+Mortal Beauty, God’s Grace, poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Mother Jones, by Judith Pinkerton Josephson

+Strength to Love, by MLKJr

+Voices, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A Spirituality of Fundraising, by Henri Nouwen

*From Beiruit To Jerusalem, by Thomas Friedman

*Jerusalem: A Biography, by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Bonus: Faith for Living, by Lewis Mumford

Other Books I Enjoyed Reading in 2020:

*Social Ethics and the Return to Cosmology: A Study of Gibson Winter by Moni McIntyre

*From Land to Lands, by Munther Isaac

+I Saw Satan Fall Like Lightening, by Rene Girard

*Love Does, by Bob Goff

+What Are People For, by Wendell Berry

Militia Christi, by Adolf Von Harnack

*Faith on Earth, by H. Richard Niebuhr

*Hermeneutics and Criticism, by Friedrich Schleiermacher

In The Name of Sanity, by Lewis Mumford

*Reason for Being, by Jacques Ellul

The Christian Intellectual; Fools for Christ, by Jaroslav Pelikan

*Character of Community, by Stanley Hauerwas

*Social Sources of Denominations; The Irony of American History, by Reinhold Niebuhr

*Political Order and Political Decay, by Francis Fukuyama

*The Fire This Time, by Jesmyn Ward

*Gilkey on Tillich; *Naming the Whirlwind, by Langdon Gilkey

*Sacred Rhythms, by Ruth Haley Barton

+Seasons of Life; +Guilt and Grace; +The Healing of Persons, by Dr. Paul Tournier

What We Talk About When We Talk About God; Drops Like Stars, by Rob Bell

*Spirituality, a Very Short Introduction, by Philip Sheldrake

Canoeing the Mountains, by Tod Bolsinger

*Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

*Manifesto of the Communist Party, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

+The Divine Hours: Autumn Edition & Christmastide, by Phyllis Tickle

+Works of Love, by Soren Kierkegaard

FICTION

Troubled Blood, by Robert Galbraith

*Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett

a dozen Jack Reacher novels, by Lee Childs

a half-dozen Sherlock Holmes short stories, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

*The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco

*1984, by George Orwell

*The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Doestevsky

Leading For Good, For All

Your influence is your leadership.

For a community and organization to forsee and flourish, people must use their influence for the common good or what our founders referred to as the Commonwealth.

That means character and integrity must be evidenced every day, along with accountability and friendship, since no one can be successful alone.

There must be a spiritual center to the common good- we are not just thoughts and actions, we need a power greater than ourselves to guide, convict, and compel us to do what is good, true, beautiful and just for all.

The following Psalm was part of the Scripture for the lectionary reading this morning:

“But they flattered the LORD with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
Their heart was not steadfast towards him;
they were not true to his covenant.
Yet God, being compassionate,
forgave their iniquity,
and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
and did not stir up all his wrath.
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and does not come again.”
[Psalm 78.36-39, NRSV]

Psalm 78 is a poetic summary of the turbulent relationship between God and the leaders of Israel. It highlights God’s faithfulness to them and their inconsistent loyalty. It’s a vulnerable song, laying open the reality of being God’s people.

God has to put up with leaders who don’t trust him, who profoundly wrong one another, and bring shame on his name – and yet God has bound himself to his people and must find ways to care for and correct them, to reprimand and transform them.

People follow leaders. God works through leaders.  I look up to leaders who help me look up to God. It’s so painful when the leaders I looked up to who helped me look up to God were also at the same time looking down on other people and taking advantage of them in despicable ways.

The psalm puts in perspective the stories that continue to emerge of abuse by Christian leaders towards women, children, other men, the church, and the world.

While this news is “old news” in that abuse and sin has always been part of humanity, America and the Christian religion, it also highlights the need for “good news” – the leadership of Christ Jesus the Lord.

Through his example and Spirit, Christ convicts a society and people of sin, humbles us to repentance and fosters transformation towards loving kindness in all things.

It’s disillusioning to hear of Christian leaders who hurt those they serve.

Especially when it is influential American Evangelical Church pastors. It’s not just “those Christians” who do terrible things, it’s now my tribe, my role models, the pastor that deeply shaped how I think about and do ministry with the church.

This renews my resolve to treat everyone with dignity, to not abuse anyone, and faithfully follow the Lord. But it also makes me question myself and to be brutally honest about “but for the grace of God, it could have been me.”

Like the psalmist recalls, it is easy to flatter God and others while ruminating and planning dark things. No one is righteous, everyone has sinned, which is why lament and repentance are essential to the Christian community.

We lie to God and ourselves when we insist on how good we are while glossing over what is wrong with our culture, our thoughts, and actions. Sometimes it takes death and brokenness to open our eyes to the sins we’ve committed and been blind to. 

It’s not just a matter of will-power to resist the temptation to lust, greed, gluttony, pride, and envy. It’s not just a mind and body struggle, but also a spiritual struggle with power.

The more influence one accumulates, the more checks and balances, the more accountability and friendship is needed to support spiritual practices so that you and those you influence become more humble and kind, wise and just in your dealings with everyone.

Staying attuned to the presence of Christ in all places and times is central to it. The sacrificial, generous, wise, courageous, patient and compassionate leadership of Jesus can be real within us, and through us.

Lead for good, for all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Courage To Be Misunderstood

If you’re a leader, you’ll be misunderstood.

If you care about people, you’ll be misunderstood.

Even if you serve people well, you’ll still be misunderstood.

If you’re like me, it’s terribly frustrating to be misunderstood. I have a deep need to be liked, so I have to fight against the urge to please everyone with my decisions. Whether as a leader, a neighbor, or a family-man, the risk of being misunderstood is constant.

But rather than being afraid of being misunderstood, we ought to accept reality, and face it with courage. Sure, we ought to do our best to keep things in context while being truthful and wise in our explanations. But if it’s laced with fear, you’ll undermine the trust you need to overcome the misunderstanding.

It’s courage, not fear, that overcomes misunderstanding.

That’s what we see in Jesus, as told by Mark in the gospel. After feeding the five thousand, Jesus had sent his disciples across the lake in their fishing boat while he went up into the mountains to pray. Late that night, as they struggled against the wind, Jesus came out to them on the lake. They were terrified by Jesus – how can he walk on water and why does the wind stop when he shows up?

They still did not understand Jesus. But that didn’t stop Jesus from being with them, speaking into their life, and giving them courage.

Jesus risked being misunderstood by his own disciples even as he worked to train them for his mission. It took courage for Jesus to teach them, send them out to preach and heal, to live with them, and then still be misunderstood. Sometimes they were still afraid of him!

“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

If it was difficult for the disciples to understand Jesus in the first century, imagine the challenges we face in the 21st century. We are separated by two millenniums and six thousand miles. Jesus is still misunderstood in America, even (mostly?) by Christians. That includes me.

So when we see how patient and persistent (and sometimes exasperated) Jesus was with his disciples when he was misunderstood, we can imitate him in regard to those who misunderstand us.

All people have power. Some know it and use it to their advantage, often at the expense of others well-being. A lot of us don’t think too much about the power we have over others. Which means we may not appreciate how we make others afraid of us.

Our desire to be understood could be another attempt to control and exert power over others. We would be wise to pay attention to the power we have (even if we think it is impotent or misunderstood) and how we use it in regard to others.

Jesus used his power to heal, to welcome, to embody the love of God, and to proclaim the forgiveness of sins for those who would repent.

Jesus used his power to transform lives, to set people free from fear in order that they may live a life of courage and trust in the God of Israel. And the whole time he risked being misunderstood. By his family, by his friends, his his disciples, by the religious and political authorities, by his own mother.

As you sense God’s call on your life to serve him in this world, your “yes” to the Lord may result in misunderstanding.

Like all important decisions, the greater the stakes, the greater the risk of misunderstanding. But when Jesus is calling you to follow him, we can hear his words to his disciples in every generation, every nation, every storm: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

What is Jesus calling you to do with your power?

What are the ways that Jesus has been appearing to you, inviting you to trust him with your life?

In what ways does Jesus make you afraid? What are you afraid of losing as you sense Jesus making himself real to you?

What kind of courage is Jesus calling you to exude as he invites you to join him in his work to heal the world for the flourishing of all?