What does political leadership mean today? Who do you think of as outstanding leaders today and why? It seems to me we are living in a time where a leader –generally speaking - has become just another product wrapped up in a pretty package and sold on TV. This product communicates with its followers through twitter or facebook or mass emails over the internet about meaningless actions and mindless thoughts. Not long ago I wrote an opinion piece contemplating this very subject. You guys are probably too young to remember that Coke used to have a commercial differentiating its taste from Pepsi by calling itself – “the Real Thing." Unfortunately, when I watch today’s critical debates over public policy I rarely, if ever, see “the Real Thing.” And I don’t think it is just me feeling this way. More and more I hear my friends and neighbours complaining about how plastic Washington politicians appear as they bombard us with rhetoric from a set of narrow talking points. The real crisis today as I see it is not in health care or carbon emissions or immigration, but it is the collapsing confidence the public has in our government's leaders and institutions.
We are living in a society where image is everything and perception is reality. Many of our so-called leaders are more concerned with personal gain and fame then they are with doing the right thing. And I am not just talking about political leaders – I am also talking about business leaders. Lack of leadership from the CEO s of some of the biggest companies in the world contributed to the collapse of the credit markets. Lack of leadership from the media enhances and rewards people who do the wrong thing. Lack of leadership in our educational system reinforces conformity and sheep-like behavior instead of teaching kids to think for themselves and seek the truth. Lack of leadership in our judicial system undermines our entire system of justice that should be ensuring that people are treated equally under the law regardless of status or income.
Why are great leaders so hard to come by or are they? My answer is that it is hard to be a great leader but they are everywhere. In my class on leadership and change, we examined different people throughout history that have changed the world. One of the questions I like to ask my students is did these people make a difference or would someone else have done it anyway? One of my favorites is Frederick Douglas, the slave who earned his freedom and became an outspoken abolitionist. He was not afraid to risk his life and speak out about the evils of slavery in a white world. In 1852, he was asked to speak on the meaning of the the Fourth of July in Rochester, New York. Now can you imagine doing that if you are Frederick Douglas? Standing up in front of a predominately if not all crowd of white businessmen and telling them how evil slavery is – Here is how he closed his speech that day,
“What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.
Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.”
How many individual citizens would stand up today and openly call out wrong-doing and injustice as he did? And now today because he was unafraid to take a stand – 156 years later we have an African American president. I believe great leaders are among us making a difference everyday without the fanfare and fakery that inundates us from the media and the political world. And what makes these people great leaders? I believe, as a Christian, that these everyday leaders are great because they follow the teachings of the greatest leader who ever lived - Jesus. Jesus’s actions and attitudes provide a model to all believers as to how we are to act in difficult circumstances. Jesus wasn’t afraid to speak the truth despite the consequences. Just think if we had political leaders who did that.
Our job as Christians is to embrace difficult circumstances to build our faith and become closer to God and by doing that we set an example for others to see and for others to emulate. The Bible tells us, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.” I believe leadership by definition requires faith. Not only do great leaders in every facet of life need their faith to be servants of God and saved by grace, faith empowers people to pursue a vision of a better way – a better life that God envisions for all of us. The Bible tells us that where there is no vision the people will perish. Think of the faith and vision that our founding fathers had when they dreamed of a country where the power to govern resided in the people instead of in the hands of a few. They not only had the imagination and the faith to see it they acted on their faith, risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to make it happen. They had faith in God that His plan for a country rooted in His principles would allow the people to flourish and pursue God’s purpose for their lives. But too often, many of our political leaders today our empty of faith – they run from the truth, and refuse to face difficult circumstances because they are too afraid of the political consequences. They only see the short term and they are fueled – like most of our society by immediate gratification.
Pride has consumed many of our leaders both in government and business. Pride is in direct opposition to God’s purpose for us. Putting ourselves first and competing with others just for the purpose of making ourselves more powerful or richer or even more knowledgeable is in complete contradiction to God. But think about many of the major crisis our country faces today and you will trace the problem back to pridefulness. It causes greed, arrogance, conceit, vanity and deceit. It is an abomination to God. Leadership requires humility. Humbling yourself is how you show love for our God. “I am third”, as they say at KANAKUK: “God First, Others second, and I am third.” Leadership is not an easy path to follow - in fact it is quite difficult. God graciously gave us freewill and sometimes our decisions are not consistent with God’s purpose. And when you are in the public eye as an elected official, the temptations are compounded. But God did not call us to an easy life but a life of significance and purpose. It is a challenge that takes a lifetime to pursue with the promise of an eternal life.
Now I hope I do not sound cynical because I am not. In fact, the cynics and pundits of the world will tell you that it is impossible to break this prideful spell that we are under. Some who have different motives will tell you that hope is on the way in the form of more government. Some will put their faith in politicians to help them. Most of these kinds of people will continue to define great leaders in terms of worldly measurements instead of God’s. I know that you all know that is exactly wrong. Hope does not come in the form of some politician or government reform. Hope resides in your heart – in your faith in Jesus Christ our only salvation – our hope for change in each one of us. That is our purpose and if we can help each other achieve that in our journey through life then we will have a world closer to God’s purpose. And what does that world look like? It’s a world where people make decisions based on their faith to help one another out of love – no matter what the consequences to them personally. Unconditional love for one another is never too big to fail. And by the way, our bail outs when we need them come from Jesus.
So let me conclude with a story of two great leaders. One, is a woman who has a disease that confines her to a wheelchair. She cannot walk and can barely talk, she can barely feed herself because her hands have palsy. She has to drink through a straw. She tries very hard to do everything she can do but it is very difficult to do just the basics and it takes a very long time. She is trapped inside a body that doesn’t work anymore except for her mind and her heart. The other is her husband who takes care of her every need. He gets her in and out of bed, helps her go to the bathroom and take a shower, he dresses her, fixes her meals, helps her eat and drink and cleans up after her. She is 85. He is 84. Neither one of them ever complain about anything. He lovingly does his tasks with a smile on his face and a sparkle in his eye. She worries about his health and his happiness every day. She never gets depressed or down. She is always concerned about other people’s problems and always rejoices at the success of others. She once told me that she felt useless. And I explained to her how totally wrong she was for feeling that way and how valuable she was to me because of her incredible ability to gracefully handle her disease. I told her she is the strongest woman I have ever met. I told her that she showed my children and me by her example how to be a humble servant of the Lord approaching her life with joy, and gratitude and perseverance and gentleness and kindness and mercy but most of all giving love to her husband, her grandchildren, and me, her daughter. My mom is more useful and more valuable to my family and any who have met or known her simply by reflecting God’s pure love. And my Dad has shown me the true meaning of unconditional love for one another. He shows me God’s love through his love for my mother. It is the most beautiful thing in the world. And that, my friends, is great leadership.
Each one of us has the capacity to be a great leader if we rely on our faith in God and let go of our fear. Ordinary people do extraordinary things everyday because they are serving God. Frederick Douglas could say the truth because he loved God and had enough faith to know that God would work it out. And so no matter what you choose to do with your life – if you do it with love and to honor God, you will not fail.
And if you have the political disease – like I do – to serve the people of this free land. Just do it - but do it God’s way. Let your light shine for God. Jesus gave us the example of his perfect love and servitude for his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. The Apostle John tells the story how one night Jesus "rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. …So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.’”
