The Sacred Music Coach » General

The servant leader

Carl — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:45:03 +0000

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.

Let’s look at Jesus Christ as humble servant.

Interested in this idea? I wrote more about it from a secular point of view on my business blog.

It’s important to note that Jesus didn’t take this idea of service to mean that nobody is providing leadership, or that everybody leads in their own direction. Instead, He provided incredibly strong direction, even when that contained messages which were hard for people to accept.

He also didn’t shy away from distinguishing between good and bad behavior, from articulating right and wrong. But He always kept this in the context of the big goal, the salvation of His people.

So as a leader and servant of your volunteer group, of your workteam, of your family … what does this mean? What are we to learn?

For me, it comes down to some key shifts in your mindset:

As leader, you have some specific jobs you need to do, the same as anyone else in the group. That includes leading the charge on promoting a common purpose and direction, stepping up for the tough decisions and tradeoffs, and letting people know how well they’re doing.
As servant, you should always be asking yourself: “What am I doing today to help this group be the best they can possibly be?”
This should all be done with an attitude of loving support, clarity of purpose, and the inherent value of each person.

Your group will see a big difference when it’s more about getting useful things done together than about your own ego.

Time to prune?

Carl — Fri, 14 May 2010 22:57:37 +0000

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.

Why would you prune a plant?

There’s deadwood, branches that just aren’t alive or sound anymore.
The plant needs help to put its energy into the most fruitful (!) direction.
You need to prepare the plant for transplanting.
You want to help form the plant into a pleasing shape.

The lesson we should take away from this is that simplifying our own lives, pruning them, is a healthy and useful thing:

We need to clear away the obligations that just aren’t useful anymore.
We need to create space to put our energy into more fruitful activities.
We need to prepare for and respond to life changes.
We need to move our life into more spiritual shape, focusing on who we’re becoming rather than just what we’re doing.

Pruning away activities can result in wounds, just as pruning a tree. But ultimately it’s necessary, healthy and useful.

Rather like taking care of your physical health by trimming away the excess, how would you like to trim away the excess obligations to help your spiritual health?

Remember why we do this!

Carl — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:08:46 +0000

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?

Well, it’s really all part of the same tapestry of religious life. We spend lots of energy on instruments, techniques, musicality, and so on. Fine.

But in the end, the point is to help bring souls to God. This is the most important thing I can be doing with my life.

I have to remember that the rest of it all really is just ways to achieve that. So let’s not confuse the fifteen interpretations of the ictus with the Truly Important Work. Which is whether we are able to help people find God.

Stepping back and taking this perspective helps me, at least. It also helps me to remember that I’m not really in the driver’s seat. This is about service for God.

Challenges

Carl — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:53:49 +0000

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?

Well, I’m back to a lot of deeper prayer, including the Rosary. I still have faith that God is supporting me through all this. I don’t know why, but – I pray – there’s something good which will result.

I thank each of you for the support that you’ve given me in the past, and will in the future. Pray for me, for my family, for our church. We need it.

We can be powerful without being perfect

Carl — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:14:16 +0000

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.

Like everyone, I think, I get hung up on the idea of achieving perfection. Nothing wrong with that – it’s what we’re here for. But somehow the concept of being imperfect has been linked with powerless.

And when I think of it, the logic is obviously flawed. The people who have had the most impact on my life have been far from perfect – and in fact, their imperfections are often a reason why they’ve affected me so much.

And the people who are most powerful in the world, in society, in any group you can think of – they’re nowhere near perfect either. They have certain attributes that I may want to model, but perfect? No.

So, when you get depressed on how your flaws seem to be holding you back:

You don’t have to be perfect to be powerful.

Thanks for that, Tony!

Living life as it is

Carl — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:19:17 +0000

“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.

The challenge is to appreciate the present, imperfections and all. Sure, the broken eggs may be a mess, but God’s love is most important when we’re in disarray. That’s also the time when we can recognize our fragility and reliance on others.

Here’s the long picture: You’re born. You do stuff. You die. Everybody goes through this cycle and it never changes.

Depressing, huh? When you look at the rest of your life – you “do stuff” and then you die – it seems almost pointless. Clearly the meaning of life isn’t there.

Where is it, then? In relationships. In the impact we have on others. In how we are able to help each other on our intertwined journeys.

And our journeys are messy. I happen to believe that this is exactly God’s design, because it’s only through the messy parts that we experience why love is necessary. Although it seems paradoxical, glory is revealed through hardship. Why would you have any need to be lifted up if you hadn’t fallen?

Through our relationships, each of us is put here as a gift for each other – not to avoid difficulty, but to experience difficulty and help each other through it. That’s the glorious work of God.

Celebrating small steps

Carl — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:53:39 +0000

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.

Let’s recognize that this is just a part of the human condition. Nobody is meant to have it easy, even for those who appear to have it all together. Where do we come up with the energy to fight the important battle?

One key trick I have is to celebrate positive progress, no matter how small. That will support my ability to maintain the optimism that anything is possible, only given enough time and focus. I have more resources than I recognize, there are others who have a similar passion to mine, and I’m making little teeny bits of progress every week, every month, every year.

Am I fooling myself? Yeah, in a way. Sometimes I don’t make any progress, even have to take steps back. But that’s life, and that’s other people’s actions. Despite that, it’s important for me to continue to maintain my mindset of possibility and optimism. So instead of moving into despair, my challenge is to learn as much as possible from the challenges and then to move on.

If you’ve been following my career blog, you know that I lost my job in Spring 2009. It was a deep emotional blow, of course. But my faith and attitude was core to my ability to work through the disruption. I’m not totally through the challenges, as my company isn’t yet showing a profit, but I’m working hard to celebrate the small steps and keep optimistic.

It’s a daily challenge, but worth the effort.

It’s simple

Carl — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:40:28 +0000

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.

It’s our human habits which love to create all this complexity, all the rules, all the wonderfully rich traditions. But let’s remember that the message of our life’s purpose and ultimate salvation is straightforward:

Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and
Love your neighbor as yourself.

When all our human endeavors help us to do these two things, we’re on the right track. When they obscure our view of the divine, well, that’s not helping.

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas season, since most of it remains, and a blessed rejuvenation of your soul.

Let God

Carl — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:06:38 +0000

“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.

As we complete our Advent preparation in anticipation of entering into life with our Maker, it’s appropriate to remember that all these results are rather transient. You can’t take it with you when you leave this world.

What you can take with you is the relationship you’ve developed with God, and hopefully, with your loved ones around you. So it’s worthwhile developing in deep love, in helping others, and letting them help you.

It doesn’t mean that we should just lay back and wait for God to fix our lives. Our hard work is necessary and vital. But in the end, there’s deeper results for which we should be working alongside God.

“It is for us to make the effort. The result is always in God’s hands.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Pro” – really??

Carl — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:17:42 +0000

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.

That exchange got me thinking about what it means to be a professional at anything. “Amateur” derives from the sense that you’re doing something because you love it (amor), but that’s not exclusive of being professional.

There’s two ways to define “professional”:

One who makes a living from a certain field of work;
One who develops deeper expertise in a field of work.

I guess the second might apply to my situation, as I do take Sacred Music quite seriously and endeavor to constantly learn more and develop expertise. I don’t see myself ever getting paid as a musician (despite occasional high school fantasies) so the first definition isn’t going to apply.

What does it take to become an expert, the second kind of professional?

Pick a particular area for your expertise, even if it’s not (yet) an acknowledged Profession.
Continue to learn and gain skills in that area
Share your expertise with others to establish your leadership

In a way, I guess, I’m moving into this with Sacred Music. But I feel like such a newbie!