It seems obvious, but Jesus knew how to build a team, didn't he? He knew it was going to take a movement to birth the Church and change the world. And that's just what Jesus did. He built a team and he gives us some great leadership lessons here. Let me just point out three. First, great leaders inspire action when they provide a clear common goal. It takes a team. You see it all the time. When I think about my former parish at Holy Family, I had Mary, Marie, and Mary who are the sanctuary floral designers, Cheryl an organist, Chris on bass guitar, Jasmine, Liz, Carol, Sue and Jerry in the choir, Ron bell ringer, Fr. Corey the parish administrator, Fr. Don the webmaster, Rene the caterer, Steve the jack of all trades, Harry the vendor procurer, Rory the council chairperson, Sandy and Tina in finance, Tom and Julie video, our faithful seniors, couples and mom and dads with their kids. 70 people all together with one goal, a marvelous Lord’s Supper experience. For Jesus, the first team he built, he chose just these 12 men, common, uneducated, and ordinary men, according to the Book of Acts. And he invested and he poured into them. They prayed together. They ate together. They traveled together. They learned from him and from each other.
In the gospel, Jesus is sending them out, two by two, for on-the-job training, and he gives them a clear common goal. Here it is. Preach the gospel. He gives them authority. "You're not on your own here, guys. You have my blessing and power." If you're building a team and you want them to work together, a clear common goal. Second, Jesus teaches us that great leaders embrace servant leadership. Jesus emptied himself of his place in heaven to pursue God's plan for you and me. He gives us a critical insight into leadership. It's all about service.
Lesson number three from Jesus. Great leadership is saturated in humility. In other words, it's not about me. When Jesus comes into the world, he tells us all things are possible with God. This movement is about God and it begins with these 12 ordinary guys, members of the team. It's not about them. It's all about God.
The key for leadership, the number one key, humility. It's not about the leader. It's about the team. It's all about we. It's not about me. Something even greater here. With Jesus, it's the team plus God. How much gets done when no one cares who gets the credit? They're just trying to reach a goal here.
This weekend is very exciting because it’s about bringing people together to celebrate an important service to the community.
On Friday night, Charlotte Comfort Home will host 300 people at a meat raffle to support the ministry of caring for the dying in Wyoming County. Harry and Donna will lead the volunteers in selling tickets, but more important inviting people to think about coming back to donate two hours a week to serve as volunteers at the Comfort Home.
On Saturday, Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral in Lancaster will celebrate their 125th anniversary as a Polish National Church. The Prime Bishop will dedicate the church and incarnate Fr. Nadeem to serve as rector of this faith community to preach the gospel and invite young families and their children to join this beautiful faith community.
On Sunday, Holy Family Parish in North Java will celebrate their Annual Spaghetti Dinner and basket raffle. Karen will coordinate basket and raffles, Sandy and her kitchen crew of 12 will serve over 300 spaghetti dinners and folks from areas farms will come for their supper to share stories about the past two years in this pandemic.
I like to think that when someone might say, 'Where were you during this pandemic?' The voices of a 100,000 will ring out. 'We were deep in the earth tilling the soil with our hands on the tractor raising our crops.”
With tears in their eyes and their resolves stiffened, the people in these parishes and ministry will return to their inglorious task because they know they are playing a role in a noble goal of preserving the love and comfort of God’s love.
The goal is more important than the role. Those are the three things Jesus taught us, a clear common goal, servant leadership, saturated in humility. So, the disciples went out two by two, and they delivered the goods. They preached. They cast out demons. They anointed with oil and they healed the sick. And the results were a mighty and wonderful work. The mission succeeded, and then it grew into a movement that became the Church, the Church that's still here today. There's no other way to explain it. Jesus knew how to build a team. You want to do something great, you're going to need a team.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends and leaders that they embrace the humility and spirit of Our Lord to bring their team together that reflects the mighty works of our God.
