vulnerability & community preaching

The other day, Marilyn commented on an article she read. She gave me a copy. In it, Margaret Wheatley states in her interview:

“A highly skilled leader has to engage in the questions of meaning, ethics, uncertainty, fear. Really good leaders are willing to step into a relationship with people and understand that we’re all thinking about these very big questions” (“In It Together”, Science of Mind, May 2006, p. 19).

In other words, vulnerability IS leadership. It’s at least a factor in it. The day used to be when the leader knew everything, felt no fear and had no anxieties. No more. Leadership today demands authentically facing these very real questions together. I’ve tried for years to make my teachings more interactive. I don’t have all the answers, so why pretend I do? I welcome questions and comments throughout. Sometimes it’s very challenging and at times it’s been embarrassing. But there have also been joyful moments of mutual discovery. I think steps like this are necessary developments in the shared understanding that we are all on a journey together. Even Barth, the great German reformed theologian, believed more and more that sermons needed to involve more discussion.