Leadership

Exodus 32:1-14

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD." They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

The LORD said to Moses, "Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, `These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation."

But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, `It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, `I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

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This morning I want to think with you a little bit about our Exodus passage.  As you'll remember, the Children of Israel wonder in the wilderness 40 years on their way from the empire of Egypt to the Promised Land that God has given them.  Can anyone tell me why they wondered in the wilderness 40 years?  Most women could tell you because Moses refused to stop and ask for directions.  I have to admit that that would be me.  I'm not one to stop and ask for directions either.  Thank God for GPS.

Since the Children of Israel are spending an inordinate amount of time together, God needs to lay some ground rules for how they should behave with God and with each other.  Last week's reading laid out those 10 rules to live by -- the 10 commandments.

What struck me as I was sitting with this week's lesson were two things.  One is a carry over from last week and the other is Aaron and Moses' different leadership styles.

Now it might sound kind of strange to hear this lesson from Exodus 32.  It might sound like we're backing up given that the 10 commandments fall in chapter 20.  What's striking is that after God gives the Children of Israel the 10 commandments, they instantly plead with God never to speak with them again.  They were afraid of the thunder and lightning and the smoke.  They beg Moses to be their intermediary and to go between them and God so they never again have to hear God speak directly to them.

So, responding to the people's request, Moses goes up on top of the mountain for a little sabbatical so he can hear God clearer.  He's up there 40 days and the people begin to get a little concerned.  They go from being afraid to hear God's voice to wanting to hear something . . . anything.  So what do they do?  They pressure Aaron to build an idol for them, thereby breaking one, and perhaps two, of the rules that God gave them to live by.  God sees what they are up to and sends Moses back down the mountain.  God is so angry with the people that God is ready to start all over again and make Moses the new Abraham.  To carry on God's promises through Moses and his descendants.  And a rather humorous exchange takes place where God calls the Children of Israel Moses' people and then Moses call the Children of Israel God's people.  Kind of like what happens in most homes when a child has done something bad.  Suddenly it's the other parent's child.  I can't tell you how many times I was my father's child growing up.

Surprisingly, Moses wins this argument and the Children of Israel are spared.

There are a couple of interesting things about Moses' and Aaron's leadership style.  First, let me say that I don't think either one was totally exemplary.  It seems that Moses is a charismatic leader.  He knows how to bring energy and excitement to a room.  In Scripture we're told that when Moses and God got through speaking his face would shine bright red.  Talk about charisma.  But Moses forgot something along the way.  Just because you have a strong sense of personal direction doesn't mean you're a good leader.  You have to bring the people along with you.  You can't lead alone.  Moses' 40 day sabbatical was probably a little long for an anxious group that had just fled captivity.  They needed to know that their leader was with them, that he was okay.  That he loved them and was going to lead them the rest of the way.  Moses was so busy soaking up God's presence that he forgot to stay connected with his community.

Next is Aaron.  Aaron is quite a character.  He rounds up all this gold, throws it into a fire and "Poof!" out pops a calf.  Now if you believe that, I have some wonderful beachfront property to sell you in the Sahara Desert.  We know that's not the way it happened.  Aaron's lack of leadership has to do with solely focusing on consensus.  He wanted to be liked.  He wanted the Children of Israel to like him because he did the popular thing.  Not necessarily the right thing, but the popular thing.  He was too connected with the community and forgot to stay connected with God.  The picture I have of Aaron is he's the assistant rector who decides to change the liturgy and move the altar and baptismal font while the rector is on sabbatical . . . not a very good idea!

So if neither one of these leadership styles -- leading by charisma or leading by consensus -- isn't ideal, what is?  I think it's finding a middle road.  You all knew I was going to say that as an Anglican Christian, didn't you?  Always going for that via media.  As leaders, we need that strong sense of personal direction -- of knowing our mission statement, of knowing where we want to go.  But we can't forget to make sure that everyone is with us on our journey otherwise we'll be 25,000 feet up the mountain while some people are still at base camp.  

So I think the challenge God is laying before us is to be leaders who embody a little bit of Moses and a little bit of Aaron.  Leaders who are charismatic -- who have a solid prayer life rooted and grounded in God and who also lead by consensus -- making sure everyone is with us.  So in other words, leaders who have their feet firmly planted on the ground and not in the sky.  Amen.

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Assistant Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

October 12, 2008 // Year A:  Proper 23

The 10 Commandments

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die." Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin."

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I want to go back and think with you about the culture wars we experienced in 2006 surrounding the 10 commandments. If you'll remember, Judge Roy Moore, a chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court became a hero of the religious right for his willingness to "go to the mat" over the display of the 10 commandments in the courthouse. After he was removed as a justice for his refusal to remove the 10 commandments, he became a national figure speaking all over the country and bringing those 10 commandments with him. What got lost in this entire conversation, at least for me, was the size of the monument that Moore had built. It was 5,280 pounds (2 1/2 tons)! Whenever he would travel and go to an event, a crane had to lift it out of the trailer. What struck me about this whole event were two things: 1.) The number of folks who supported Moore (initially 80% in a nationwide poll) yet who couldn't name the 10 commandments -- don't worry I won't ask you to name them -- and 2.) In the Jewish tradition, the 10 commandments are a source of joy and life, not something oppressive -- especially 5,280 pounds of oppression. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is devoted entirely to singing the praises of the commandments -- "Your law gives life to my soul" says the psalmist. That's quite different than 2 1/2 tons of granite.

Given that each commandment could be a sermon unto itself -- this morning I want to simply think with you about two of those commandments: idolatry and sabbath.

First idolatry. Now you might be thinking "I don't have any graven images in my house, so I'm safe." Well that's not exactly what this commandment is talking about. Idols are about self-worship. They point us away from the worth and dignity of all human life. This week has been a difficult week for many of us as we watched the stock market take a drastic hit. We wonder about our retirement, our pension, our savings. Will we have enough money? Those who have set up money as an idol have had a very hard time. Money is a means to an end when used appropriately. Money allows us to provide food, clothing, and shelter for our families and to give money away to God and to the poor. Accumulating wealth just for the sake of accumulating wealth is a form of idolatry. It's putting your trust in something besides God. It's easier to go through life with idols. It's much harder to trust in the unknown, in the darkness. In the voice answering Moses' request for revelation with the words: "I AM WHO I AM."

Church is the place we come each and every week to have community. To regain our center and to be reminded that God should be at the center of our lives and not idols of wealth, status or position.

The second commandment I want to think with you about is Sabbath. Now you might wonder why I chose this one. It's because this is probably the one commandment we throw around more loosely than others. People don't usually walk around and say, "I'm goint to steal today." "I'm going to commit adultery today." "I'm going to lie." But how many times do we go around talking about "working all weekend" trying to gain the favor of our boss and to try and emphasize the value we place on work?

Six days of work followed by one day of rest is woven deep into the fabric of the Bible.  It all starts with creation where on the seventh day God rested.  Are we better than God?  We as God's people are to rest on one day because God did.  In the Exodus as the children of Israel were fleeing the Egyptian Empire, God provided manna for them in the wilderness.  They could only gather enough manna for the day ahead, but the day before Sabbath they could gather enough for two days.

In 1991 Juliet Schor published a book entitled The Overworked American.  It became a surprise best-seller.  In the book, Schor argues that work hours and stress are up and sleep and family time are down.  Add overtime or second jobs to schedules and single parents are stretched in so many directions that they sometimes feel that they can't manage.  Simultaneously, we are bombarded by messages that urge us to spend more (and so, ultimately, to work more) to keep our homes cleaner, to improve ourselves as parents, investors or athletes.  To make all of this possible, grocery stores are open 24 hours, entertainment options are available around the clock.  We live in an economy and a society that are demanding too much from people.  It seems that the American economy is nearly a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week, 365-days-a-year economy.

So what is one to do?

Culture tells us to take a fancy vacation (yet again requiring more money and thereby more work) or buy a piece of exercise equipment that can burn 500 calories in 5 minutes.

Here is where our Jewish brothers and sisters have something to teach us.  The idea of Sabbath is at the heart of Judaism.  What would it be like for us to set aside one day a week for rest and worship.  If you have to work on Sunday, like me, finding another day to do it.  Spending a day where you focus on taking a walk, resting, talking with loved ones, reading.  Taking a break from shopping or e-mailing.

So the next time you run across the 10 commandments I hope you can name at least two of them and to remember that they aren't weights to bog us down, but a way to help us stay centered by focusing on God rather than idols -- especially the idol of money and to give us rest and peace by keeping Sabbath.  Amen.  

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Assistant Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

October 5, 2008 // Proper 22