A Year of Transformative Leadership

THERE IS A saying in Telugu, my mother tongue: “The fence has devoured the garden.” I find it a useful phrase in this year when the United States embarks on a federal election cycle that will test the strength of our democratic institutions and may well damage their integrity. The same leaders entrusted with the power to safeguard the interests of the people (“the fence”) have instead undermined them. Growing economic inequality continues to dehumanize individuals and entire communities. Women, Black, brown, refugee, and LGBTQ people increasingly feel at risk in light of recent court rulings. Leaders expected to provide vision in times of crisis, whose mission is to “protect the garden” of democracy and civil life, appear to be actively “devouring” it. And accountability has been in short supply.

How do we facilitate transformative changes that allow individuals and communities, especially those at the margins, to realize their dreams and flourish? At a time when scriptures (such as Romans 13) are used to prescribe uncritical loyalty to authorities, what are some strategies for holding those authorities accountable? This month’s texts invite us to identify and nurture leaders who can see things differently, offer a generative vision, and undertake radical changes. They exhort us to empower a new generation of leaders who are working collaboratively and serving the people with integrity, and who privilege the interests of the community over their own.

January 7

A Curious Relationship

Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11

HISTORY IS REPLETE with examples of movements that showed great promise of liberation but failed due to personality conflicts among leaders and a struggle for supremacy. In Mark’s gospel both John and Jesus championed the movement of repentance and challenged the Roman Empire. Since John too was a popular figure, as Mark and the Jewish historian Josephus note, Mark’s readers would have been curious about his relationship with Jesus. Unsurprisingly, Mark informs readers that John praised Jesus in his very first message and presented him as the superior one whose ministry of baptism will be much more impactful than John’s own. Reading the account of Jesus coming from Nazareth to the site of John’s ministry, I fully expected that Jesus would ask John to step aside so he can demonstrate his own superior baptism. Had he done so, Jesus would have implicitly suggested that John’s movement of repentance had been ineffective and played into the hands of the empire (“divide and conquer”). Within Mark’s historical and ecclesial contexts, it would have undermined John’s legacy as well as the unity of the early church.

Jesus does not initiate a superior baptism, or any baptism for that matter, but willingly participates in John’s baptism. Transformative leadership often requires resisting a chance to “be in control” and instead knowing how to empower existing leadership. I am reminded of leaders from modern movements — Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy, Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin, to name a few — who rose above struggle for personal supremacy to advance their shared vision.

January 14

Seeing Deeply

1 Samuel 3:1-20; Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51

NUMEROUS MOVIES ARE built on a storyline in which kids hear voices or see things that adults around them do not. The Sixth Sense remains one of my favorites. In 1 Samuel, the boy Samuel hears a voice that announces punishment to Eli’s house. Eli, the seasoned priest, is too steeped in power to hear anything that is inconvenient to maintaining that position, but Samuel is a child, not burdened with securing position or authority. This gives him the unique ability to perceive God’s call. Eli was a complex figure. His nepotism and status undermined his faithfulness to God and his ability to hear the divine voice, but he did encourage Samuel to pay attention to that strange voice in the night. Eli did not make false assumptions about Samuel’s experience or dismiss him because of his lowly pedigree. Instead, Eli affirmed the divine origin of the voice, even at a cost to himself and his family. Transformative encounters can be disruptive. Maybe that’s why movies that depict kids hearing voices that adults cannot are placed in the horror genre.

In the gospel, disciple Nathanael makes false assumptions about people from Jesus’ home region. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” he asks (John 1:46). Philip encourages Nathanael to step out of his preconceived notions and corrects him gently, inviting him to “come and see.” The Greek verb ide, translated as “see,” has the connotation of seeing the other on a deeper level and truly perceiving them. Philip’s curiosity is contagious. Transformative moments also occur when people resist arriving at easy conclusions about others but instead learn about them, ask questions of curiosity, and acknowledge their gifts and potential as leaders. In other words, don’t jump to premature conclusions about anyone. Avoid “otherizing” based on insufficient knowledge. New leadership and new wisdom that can serve as a catalyst for needed change often comes from unexpected quarters.

January 21

Catching big fish

Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:5-12; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20

A FRIEND WHO went through a period of professional disappointment told me about a time one of his acquaintances offered him unsolicited advice — advice both unhelpful and entirely unrealistic. Is this how Jesus’ invitation to the first disciples seemed? Were they busy fishermen whom Jesus caught during a break on a hectic day or sitting idle when he met them? It is odd to have a stranger show up at your job and promise you a much better gig. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people,” Jesus says. Jesus likely came across as a “teller of tall tales,” like the father character in Tim Burton’s movie Big Fish. Who would trade their familiar day job for an unknown grand adventure promised by Jesus? Besides, what did he mean by “fishing for humans” anyway? Ched Myers noted in Binding the Strong Man that the phrase “fishers of humans” goes back to Amos 4:2 and Ezekiel 29:4, where catching fish with hooks (rather than nets) is a euphemism for judgment upon those who engage in oppressive practices. In essence, Jesus is inviting the disciples to hold accountable the “big fish” in the oppressive system. The disciples readily signed up.

Someone told me once that they preferred fish nets to hooks because they were easier on the fish. Jesus was not referring to small fish but to predators. Christian discipleship is rooted in a commitment to justice and not about undertaking change that is only symbolic or palatable to the powerful. The radical change to which Christ calls us may cause profound discomfort for those whose welfare is closely tied to keeping such structures intact. Fortunately, the disciples (who were powerless within their context) accepted Jesus’ invitation despite the risks. They did so because they had much more to lose by not accepting the invitation to follow him.

January 28

Keeping Perspective

Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28

AS AN IMMIGRANT to the United States, one early description I learned about our country was that it’s “the land of the free.” It didn’t take long to learn that this phrase meant different things to different people. Each election season, we hear intense conversations about individual freedom vs. social responsibility on issues ranging from taxes to the rights of gun ownership.

In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul acknowledges the believers’ right to discern their actions but also exhorts them to be mindful to lead by example (verse 9, “But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block ...”) and have concern for neighbors who might be impacted by their actions. They may eat the food offered to idols — but only if it does not cause offense to vulnerable believers. Paul takes it one step further and suggests that an offense against a vulnerable believer amounts to an offense against Christ. Believers are rooted in their relationship with Christ, but their identity as Christians is intrinsically linked to their relationship with fellow believers. The vertical and the horizontal are linked. There are other dimensions such as economic aspects that problematize the suggestion that people eating sacrificial meat were the privileged ones. But the takeaway is that no one is an island because our lives and futures are inherently connected. Consequently, how their actions impact others does matter.

In Psalm 111, the poet highlights the Lord’s faithfulness to the community rather than to any one individual. As Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford has written in The Shape and Shaping of the Book of Psalms, although the psalms often highlight an individual’s words of thanks to God, they reflect God’s faithfulness to a whole community. The rights and concerns of the individual are important, but the welfare of those at the margins is paramount.