Lenten Daily Reflection 2021-03-19
You can listen to the reading and reflection by clicking here.
Hebrews 4:14—5:4
Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
This passage makes me think about a special aspect of the Christian faith. The God of our faith knows what it is to be human. We humans are frail, “ignorant and wayward”, as the passage has it. We don’t act with the perfection of an all-powerful being. Jesus knows about our ignorant, wayward frailty very intimately, because He has lived as a man.
Churches and congregations share all those human qualities; we are perfectly capable of collective ignorance and waywardness, not just the individual versions. We require motivation, from each other and from inspiring leaders, to do good and to become better.
In a sense, I have been studying leadership over the past couple of years as I complete an MPA program part time. MPA stands for “Master of Public Administration”, a degree I hope to attain by Christmas 2022, if not sooner. I’m getting close. Studying administration often, and rightly, veers into discussions of leadership. My current class is called “Public and Nonprofit Management I”, and we’ve been reading and discussing recently about motivation theories. A lot of the material focuses on the fact that employees in government and nonprofit contexts find motivation in equal measure to how much their own beliefs and ideals match the organization.
As members of Holy Apostles, we aren’t employees of a nonprofit. But we are voluntarily engaged in an organization, and every organization, including our church, has beliefs and ideals. There is a mission statement, and it comes from Jesus: “Love everyone.” I come to church and am a member because I believe in that message, even if in my human frailty, ignorance, and waywardness I can’t perfectly live up to it. Our motivations as churchgoers and church members work similarly in some ways to nonprofit employees. Can our organization, our church, come close (or closer) to what we believe in?
That’s where our own priests and spiritual leaders come in. In our case, we are deeply fortunate to have Mother Kimberlee and Mother Sarah, Deacon John and Canon Sandye, offering us their leadership. They are frail mortals, too, able to understand and deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, being themselves subject to weakness. But they are, in many important ways, bringing us as a congregation closer to our own beliefs. Even though it’s hard, and even though all involved are far from perfect, our motivation to continue in our church and our joy in our beliefs is increased through their efforts. I feel immense gratitude for our leadership, and continue to grow in my own motivation, joy, effort, and love.