You might have heard the notion of leader as servant. I imagine that it might be based in the model of Christ as servant of His people, I’m not sure. But I have some experience with the idea that I might like to share.
Here’s the core of the idea:
- The group is the ones who deliver the value of the organization, much more than the leader personally.
- The leader can have the most impact by helping his people to deliver that value, removing obstacles and facilitating action.
- Therefore, the leader can be most valuable by thinking of himself as servant of the group.
But this is just the starting point, there’s more to the story.
Continue reading The servant leader
We lost a big chunk off of one of our big trees with last week’s snow storm, and I spent a lot of time today cleaning up the mess. It gave me some time to think about the importance of pruning, especially since this is the time of year that I look at trimming my obligations and commitments for the upcoming year.
Pruning is good, and it’s healthy.
Continue reading Time to prune?
One of my other roles at church is to help out with our parish’s RCIA program. Yesterday, despite a somewhat tenuous weather situation, we all traipsed down to the Cathedral in Denver for one of the Rite of Election services with the Archbishop. As always, he was a wonderful Shepherd for his flock, helping our RCIA Candidates and Catechumens to realize the magnitude of their life-altering decisions.
What does this have to do with Sacred Music?
Continue reading Remember why we do this!
This is a time of turmoil in my spiritual life. I won’t go into more detail, but it’s something that is causing me to lose a bit of sleep. And what little hair I have left.
What to do?
Continue reading Challenges
My colleague Tony made this observation in a discussion last week:
“We can be powerful without being perfect.”
It really struck me as an important concept, one that I need to constantly remember on my journey of life.
Continue reading We can be powerful without being perfect
“Life is not about avoiding broken eggs. Life is about presence (broken eggs and all)” – Terry Hershey
There’s so many problems, so many things to be fixed. We live in fear of what is and what’s to come. And meanwhile, we spend our lives constantly focusing on the future.
Here’s the deal: Your presence is in the present. And if you can’t enjoy and appreciate what God has given you in the present, you will reside in constant misery.
Continue reading Living life as it is
I’ve observed a number of conversations recently where people are coming up against what appears to be a brick wall of tasks. There’s so much work to be done, an infinite number of problems to be fixed, a huge number of people to convince….
Daunting is a relatively weak word for what it feels like.
Continue reading Celebrating small steps
Jesus has been reaching out to every one of us, every day, with a tremendously simple message. It’s not rocket science, folks, or it wouldn’t be accessible to all.
Continue reading It’s simple
“It is for us to make the effort. The result is always in God’s hands.” – Mahatma Gandhi
In our culture, we are very focused on results. Goals, money, achievement – things that represent the crowning results from our work. But you might notice that this leaves little room for God to work in our lives.
Continue reading Let God
I had the opportunity to sing Compline with the schola from another parish last night – a wonderful and prayerful experience. But earlier in the week, the director tangentially referred to me as “the professional.”
Say what? I mean, I’m a neophyte at this chant, and have only been working on it for a few years. No college training in music.
Continue reading “Pro” – really??
2010 Colloquium