LeadershipConneXtions

Sabbath Musings (Leaders, Limits and Rest)

It is ironic and appropriate that I do this on Sunday, the Sabbath day for Christians, which turns out to be anything but a day of rest and renewal for many of us.

A few weeks ago when Ruth Barton was with us one of the things she spoke on that grabbed hold of me was Sabbath rest and knowing and respecting your limits. Ok! Sabbath keeping is not in my top five list of spiritual disciplines I practice. In fact, it doesn't make it in the top twenty-five list.

I needed some help with this one. Some motivation if you will. She recommended a book that I picked up - Sabbath: Find Rest, Renewal and Delight in Our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller. I'm not in a rush to work through it. I need some time to sit with its thoughts and lessons . . . and more time and will to make change.

Here are a few musings I have had while reading through the pages of the book.

Many of us (and i am to be counted in their number) wear our exhaustion as if it were a trophy. Being and feeling too busy with work is now a status symbol. If someone asks you how you are doing and you don't answer - "BUSY" - then you are probably slacking off.

The Chinese pictograph for busy is composed of two characters - heart and killing.

(Note: I like this, but I have to admit that I am a little hesitant to say it is actually so. For many years, the idea of the Chinese pictograph for change was said to be composed of two other pictographs - those of danger and opportunity. I've been told this is not true. So, is this one for busy true, or is it a pictograph urban legend? I don't know. But I like it.  You can see it at:  this site.)

(Company Policy:  We strive for professional journalism on this blog site. We only pass on urban myths, fabrications, innuendos, slander, gossip, misleads, premature and thus faulty news and outright error if we like it and it is self-serving. Otherwise, we always tell the truth, as we see it.)

We are consumers and producers living and working in a world where speed, accomplishment, consumption and productivity are the greatest values.  That does not lend itself to the "wastefulness" of down time on a Sabbath.

Here are three quotes and a Scripture text that spoke to me.

"There is more to life than merely increasing its speed."  Gandhi

"God is the friend of silence."  Mother Teresa

"I have often repented of having spoken but never of having kept silent."  Arsenius, a desert father

"Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil."  Qoheleth in Ecclesiastes 4:6

If you are feeling too busy, running on the treadmill and not having time for renewal, rest and delight, then let's join together in pursuing this discipline.

And if you have any ways that are working for you on this - let me know.  Share them in the comment section.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

p.s.  Death is nature's way of saying, "Slow Down!"  Sabbath is God's way of saying it in a less dramatic form.

The Illusion of Getting Somewhere

I've got some thoughts rumbling around for this post and I'm not sure I have them really organized, in my mind or on the paper where I scribbled them down. So this post may "ramble" a bit.

I read a line in Wendell Berry and the Cultivation of Life by Bonzo and Stevens that set me to thinking.

Under the illusion of getting somehwere, we are consumed by the effort to figure out why we aren't there yet.

So, here come the random, meandering thoughts that arose out of my reflection on those words. I'll talk about it in personal terms rather than projecting it out to you.

I define myself by what I lack, what I don't have and what I think I am missing.  (By the way, this picture is not me lounging in a hammock, by the ocean, under palm trees, reading a good book, drinking a cool beverage of my choice . . . this is some of what I am lacking in the middle of December.)

In doing this, I feel diminished. I feel less than I should be. I know life is not the way it is supposed to be and I am not the way I am supposed to be (Plantinga).

I experience life then in terms of loss, estrangement, faiure, disappointment. The cup is half empty and not half full.

This becomes even worse, for according to Mark Sayers, my cultural setting is one of Hyper-Reality where so much is promised, so much is dangled before my yes, that expectation is heightened to inordinate levels. In leadership terms, the world constantly over-promises and always under-delivers. So my sense of lacking is even greater.

One more thought on that one. Reality is so hyped up that reality is no longer reality but hyper-reality. It is an impossible reality. An "ideal" reality, although the ideal is that of materialistic, hedonistic, consumerist pop-culture. It is ubiquitous. It is there at every turn, in every commercial, on every billboard, in every magazine, in every TV show...

Because I live in a world of comparisons, I tend to compare myself to those who have what I lack and that makes my lacking even more difficult.

I live in a world that intentionally heightens and emphasizes what I lack. It does this to spur me on to purchase what I lack. Whether it is a possesion I lack or an experience I lack, the cultural marketing machine encourages me to buy it so I can experience satisfaction and fulfillment.

I have the illusion I am getting somewhere. It is an impression, and a misguided one at that. It is misguiding, illusionary impression because I live in a time that is seriously confused about both destinations and the journey.

A well worn mantra of our time is that the destination does not matter, only the journey counts. That is patently false. Destinations are the purpose of the journey. And then the journey prepares you for the destination. In fact, I'd say we are confused about both destinations and journeys, and therefore, struggle with both hope (about the destination) and love (what we do on the journey).

If we don't know where we are headed, then we cannot possibily know how to get there. So we unconsciously "buy into" an alternative destination suggested by our culture. And that destination is the illusive "fulfilled self in terms of possessions and experiences."

And we/I (sorry, I started projecting a paragraph or so back) have the sense that it is not what it should be, I have not received what I think I should have, I am not where I should be. And my sense of life is basically - it is lacking something.

As a friend of mine use to say, "I'm so confused." He said that about himself, but I am saying it about myself and, what the heck, I'll project, "We are all so confused."

If this is the experience of so many, then LEADERSHIP involves discerning our times (and I would call them our diseased and dis-eased times), having clarity about our destination, learning how to be a guide for others who have lost their way, helping them recalibrate their expectations for the journey.

It's a little hard for leaders to help others do that if they (the leaders) have not generally figured it out for themselves.

Ok, that was a ramble . . . Did it make any sense?

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

It Takes Time

A number of weeks ago (or perhaps it has even been a few months) I began to wonder - how long does it take?  How long does it take to:

become a world class athlete . . .

gain significant skills with a musical instrument . . .

become fluent in a foreign language . . .

forgive and love an enemy . . .

become a generous person . . .

learn gratitude as a way of life . . .

have an angry heart that is transformed and replaced with peacefulness . . .

overcome an addiction . . .

become a "pretty good" follower of Jesus . . .

then move from "pretty good" to "great" . . .

learn humility . . .

find wisdom . . .

The list could go on for a long time.

Q:  So - how long does it take when it comes to anything that is truly important and worth doing well?

A:  It takes a long time . . . it takes a lot of time . . .

Leaders know it takes time and leaders are willing to live proactively and wait patiently for the duration.

Today is one more day to make the most of the time you have been given. So may it be a great day for you.

Be very careful then how you live -

not as unwise but as wise,

making the most of every opportunity...  

Ephesians 5:15-16

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Great Questions, Persistent Questions

Wendell Berry's life was well spent wrestling with a few of the great questions that matter the most (Bonzo and Stevens, Wendell Berry and the Cultivation of Life).

That idea grabbed hold of my attention.

From time to time I wonder how I/you/we can sustain meaningful living in the context of our frantic, hurried, distracted, fragmented age of history? Reading this idea of a life devoted to wrestling with a few great questions gives me part of the answer.

We all need some Great Questions with which we will wrestle and keep on wrestling.  These Great Questions provide focus and motivation. They are the stimulants and the launching pads for exploration and discovery.

These Great Questions are Persistent Questions. You worry at them like a dog does a bone.

These Persistent Questions are the intellectual curiosities on the mind as well as the existential pulls on your heart.

The danger is that in a noisy, busy, distracted world we will not pay attention to these great, persistent questions. In a pragmatic world we may not believe we can justify the time spent on them.

I think these great, persistent, lingering questions launch a life of thinking, of orientation and of activity.

So I asked myself the obvious question: What are the Great, Persistent Questions that I wrestle with?

I must immediately resist the temptation to come up with a few examples to "impress you" that I have indeed a life of significance since I am wrestling with really great questions.

To be honest, my first response was - I'm not sure what my Great, Persistent Questions are. That was strange and a bit humbling. Maybe even a touch discouraging as well.

For I fancy myself an idea person. I love the world of ideas. I look forward to conversations with friends about the great things that matter the most. I dive into the ideas that the best books offer.

But - what are the Great, Persistent Questions that are really mine?  They occupy and preoccupy my time and attention. I have some general thoughts, but I have some work to do on identifying them with clarity, but I believe it will be well worth my time to do this. 

So I ask you - what are the Great, Persistent Questions with which you wrestle? I'd love for you to share them as comments.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

The Fear Factor and Dangerous Dreams

I don't know if the show is still on. I did see a few episodes. It was "mildly interesting" although having thousands of insects dumped over one's head and body was pretty (hmmm, what is the word?) gross, disgusting, and took a lot of guts from the person who had a phobia of insects.

And when the person with the fear of heights went bungee jumping off the bridge . . . they had my respect (or was it pity?).  Insect baths and bungee plunging to death - neither are high on my list of things to do before I leave planet earth.

Fear . . .

I was struck when Seth Godin noted that the best idea does not always carry the day nor does the one with the best idea always win.

It doesn't matter how good the idea is if you are afraid to "go for it." Godin said great ideas need fearless heretics. Heretics, because a really good idea is sometimes really new and different and disturbing of the status quo. Fearless, because people don't necessarily like those with the really new and different or like having the comfortable status quo challenged.

Timid heretics usually die the death of anonymity and obscurity. And their ideas go with them.

At times I've fallen into this group. I've had some really good ideas and the occasional brilliant one (okay, very occasional . . .)!

But I've been that timid heretic, the reluctant risk-taker, the hesitant innovator. And so I've had good ideas whose time came and went and they died stillborn. I need to name this for what it is. Fear!

In the course on Emerging Paradigms of Leadership, we talked about "dangerous dreamers."That image is borrowed from Lawrence of Arabia who talked about those who dream at night and when they waken, the dream is gone. But there are others who dream during the day, dangerous dreams that do not disappear. But the dreamer goes forth to bring them into reality.

What really good ideas do you have these days?

What dangerous dreams are stirring inside you?

What fears are holding you back?

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

 

All men dream, but not equally.

Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds, 

wake in the day to find that it was but vanity.

But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men;

for they may act out their dreams with open eyes 

to set the world afire.

And such a one was I.

Post Trip Reflections (Chile, November 2008)

I jotted down many of these thoughts in my journal while I was sitting in the Delta Terminal #3 of the JFK airport. I had about a four-hour layover there.

This was my third trip to Chile and the second time working with my friend there.

ONE:  Emerging Paradigms of Leadership. I have taught this course three times now. The first time was in Paraguay and it was in pretty rough form there. The second time was at Lancaster Bible College for a grad course. And now in Chile. It was modified again. I have more work to do for this course to be contextualized for the Latin world. I will be teaching it at three locations in Latin America in 2009.

The course had two main focuses. First we take a look at the In-Between Times of massive cultural change. We are moving from a modern world to a post-modern one. And even in religious Latin America, there is a shift from a Christendom model to a post-Christendom one (in some ways). So we spent a lot of time looking at these changes. The second focus was to inquire about the kind of leadership needed in this changing context.

TWO: Interesting Times, Serious Times.One of the core ideas is that we live in interesting times. Is this a blessing or a curse? We live in serious times (Adams to Jefferson, see a recent post I did on this). And we live in the best of times and the worst of times (Dickens), but they are our times. Living in these interesting, serious, best of/worst of times is living in the In-Between Times of transition and change. We talked about being "dangerous dreamers," "subversive prophets," "discerning missiologists."  "Here be dragons," "urban tribes," the emergent critique of the existing church, a definition of insanity (and how not to be insane) and more were themes of interest.

THREE:  The group of 30-40 (attendance varied depending on the day and busyness) was mostly younger leaders, but with some older, established leaders there also. They were mainly from the Santiago area, but a few were in from other areas in Chile and a few from Peru.  A number of them are possibly headed into cross-cultural situations at some point. They were thoughtful, committed, fun and energetic. It was a privilege to work with them.

FOUR:  There were a number of main texts in this course, but three in particular formed the framework for all our discussions.  Isaiah 43:18-19 (the new thing God is doing), Jeremiah 6:16 (standing at the crossroads seasons of life), and 1 Chronicles 12:32, 38 (discerning the times) gave us lens to think about our changing times and our invitation to lead in those times.

FIVE:  The core leadership team in place there is a wonderful group.They have their "bus" figured out and they have very good people in the right seats on the bus. I was struck by how much these leaders live out of the biblical metaphors of servant, steward, shepherd on behalf of the Chileans. They have a great love for the people, a compelling vision and the strategy of empowering hundreds of emerging leaders. I love it.

SIX:  The schedule for teaching in Chile is "different." One of the things I love about cross cultural travel is how things are different in different places. For the schedule, in the evenings I started teaching at 8:00 p.m. and went until 10:30 p.m. The urban Chileans are, let me say - night owls. Light nights. Eating late and going to bed late. It is actually kind of fun. Unfortunately, I am a morning person and I tend to wake up early, no matter how late I go to bed. Although I think I slept in until 7:00 a.m. every day.  I never can do that in America. I had also had a meeting on Friday from 10:00 - 1:00, taught all day Saturday, preached Sunday morning, and then taught for a few hours on Sunday before going to the airport.

SEVEN:  The gift of hospitality and friendship. My friend and his entire family have these gifts. Their home is a place of love, fun, laughter, creativity . . . and generous hospitality. In the Latin culture, at some places you will have a "mi casa es tu casa" culture. This is certainly true for my friend and host. I almost feel it is a home away from home. And I had a chance to watch Cola Cola win their quarterfinal game . . . headed toward the championship. This family are true fans (rabid fans).

EIGHT:  A few misc. thoughts.

I had a great "Asado" one night at my friend's house. Thanks to the Asado Master.

I read several very good books on this trip. Tribes by Godin, The Exceptional Presenter by Koegel, Wendell Berry and the Cultivation of Life by Bonzo and Stevens and a good way through Sabbath by Muller.

I read in Sabbath that unhappy people watch 30% more TV than happy people!!! I jotted down this thought because I am sitting in a terminal, watching the TV from time to time.

The temperature in Chile was wonderful. Mid to upper 80's during the day, low humidity and at night I think it dropped down to the 50's. It snowed in York while I was there!  I left warm Chile and returned to chilly York.  (I just had to say that.)

So that is a summary of this trip. Thanks again for your prayers.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

New Quotes, New Article on Communication

I know it has been a few months since I updated the quotes page. Just been too busy. I took some time today and gathered some from reading in recent months.

Here are a few quotes from the update. There are about 50 more to see.

ADVICE:  Advice is seldom welcome. Those who need it most, like it least. Samuel Johnson

CRITICISM:  The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.  Norman Vincent Peale

EXCELLENCE:  Once you fly, you will walk with your eyes skyward. For there you have been and there you will go again.  Leonardo da Vinci

IMAGINATION: Imagination is more important than knowledge.  Albert Einstein

 

I also posted a new article on  the MAKE IT STICK page.  It is a review/essay on The Exceptional Presenter book by Tim Koegel.

 

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

A Description of Modernity: Part Three (IBT #13)

I am going to continue with this InBetween the Times series but intermittently. If you ever want to look at the entire list of IBT posts, just click on the link InBetween Times that is in the footer at the end of the post. What that link does is bring up ever post associated with this topic. You can also always click on that same link in the Categories category on the left hand side of this site.

Today I'll briefly describe the twin issues of Pluralization and Relativism.

Pluralization simply means we now have a variety of options from which to choose.

Relativism is the view that no one option is morally superior to or spiritually better than the other option.

Multi-culturalism is the result of Pluralization and Relativism as it is socially programmed into our experience.

Tolerance is now considered the supreme value needed in this kind of world.

- - By the way, all of this emerges out of another phenomenon known as Globalization, which we'll look at in another post.

- - Another "by the way" is that even though these things developed in a Modern world, they have each been carried over into a Post-modern world. A PoMo who is reading the above list would say, well all that describes my Post-modern experience. And it does.

This is another example where "post" does not necessarily mean - contradictory of what went before. Sometimes a PoMo assumes that to be Post-modern means everything is against or in contrast to what was Modern. That is just not true. There are many things in a Post-modern world that are simply the intensification to extremes of what was true of the Modern world.

So, here are a bunch of quick thoughts as to what all this means for us today.

It is now commonly accepted that all religions are the same and that all religions lead to the same God, just using different terminology and different flavors. Therefore . . .

It makes "apologetics" very hard and, for some, completely suspect. 

For many, evangelism is now seen as unfortunate proselytism and a remmnant of religious imperialism.

It undercuts missional efforts . . . after all, why is it even needed?

Or it redefines mission as finding ways to work together for social betterment. (After all, we can agree on that . . . can't we?)

Everything (just about) is permissible and almost nothing is wrong. Even if it is illegal, if you can get away with it, go for it.

It deepens radical individualism. For you are the consumer who can sample and try whatever you want. No one can challenge you or question your choices in this pluralistic, relativistic, tolerant world.

Although we all know that this is very selectively held. Just witness the recent presidential election and it kind of blows much of what we "pretend" to believe about pluralization and relativism and tolerance right out the window.

I think it fosters tribal isolation where every tribe does what is right in their own eyes. At best, these tribes have an uneasy co-existence. But in many cases, even though they must tolerate each other, they don't really like each other.

Smorgasbord faith and Syncretism abound as we increasingly sample and remix our beliefs.

All of this is the result of Modernity and it is describing these InBetween Times in which we live as we are transitioning out of a Modern world and into an emerging "Post-modern" world.

And it makes leadership a very "tricky" thing.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

p.s.  You can download this file that has some cartoons on it

Download RelativismComics