Being that we're only a little more than a month from a Presidential election, we may be more curious than usual about those persons who are likely to grow up to be "in charge." What makes a good leader? Is it integrity and good judgment? Is it experience at handling critical situations? Is it creating closeness through telling a personal narrative? Is it explaining in plain language intelligent plans for change? Is it courage, endurance, charisma, or having the luck to be in the right place at the right time? It's hard to tell. Each and every person looks at leadership in his or her own way. Books on leadership seem to reproduce themselves on the shelves at Books-A-Million. Just about anyone can write a book on what makes a good leader, and yet, there are leaders, good, bad, and mediocre in all levels of life, from the designated "head" of the family to the statesmen of various nations, and every boss, manager, and supervisor in between.

Though I do think that many of the faddish formulas for good leadership are doomed to fail, I do think there are some observable things that inspirational leaders share in common with one another. One of the things shared by the best is the ability to lead with both intellectual and emotional savvy. As the researchers for the book Primal Leadership observe through rigorous study of leaders who truly resonate with their people, "No creature can fly with just one wing. Gifted leadership occurs where heart and head - feeling and thought - meet. These are the two wings that allow a leader to soar." (Primal Leadership, p.26) Unfortunately, we have tended to associate one's leadership strength with either intellect alone or the ability to be ruthless with one's underlings. The image of Donald Trump callously calling out, "You're fired" to the people trying to succeed on his reality show has penetrated our skewed understanding of what it takes to garner corporate success.

For some pastors in this country, now would be a great time for me to line up exactly the leadership characteristics I see in each candidate and not so subtly suggest which one I think is best from a Christian perspective. That's not my style or my practice. What I do hope to do today is to look at a couple biblical texts that share some observations about authority and power, and perhaps it will give you some things to consider either as you vote, or as you gather in your staff meeting on Monday morning at work, or as you make an important decision with your family.

I wonder; how might God use leaders to inspire and encourage all of God's children toward a common good?

The first text from the Old Testament is a snippet from the Exodus story. I treasure the story of Moses, because it reminds me that God stands by with spiritual leaders even when being "in charge" is not always a fun place to be. That God chose Moses at all puts a serious spin of humility on the whole business of being well-prepared for leadership. Moses was an unlikely candidate with a rocky resume. In his journey of self-discovery, he had to determine whether he would accept the authority granted to him by living in the Pharoah's house, or would he throw his lot in with his first family of Hebrew slaves who gave him up for adoption? Moses also had a felony crime on his record - the murder of an Egyptian. Therefore, he was also a wanted fugitive, for he fled the scene of his crime and hid out in the hill country. But God called him back, and heaved heavy responsibility on his shoulders. He would be the one to lead the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt to a new and Promised Land.

The journey out of Egypt showed the Hebrew people amazing instances of God's power and strength through Moses' unwavering courage and trust, but the wilderness time was a different story. In the wilderness, the people turn on their leader. He's not doing enough. At least in Egypt they might have been slaves, but they had food and water and homes. This part of the text shows that even great leaders can be a disappointment to their people. The people complain, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?" Moses cries out to God. Rather than berate the people, he turns to a higher authority for both strength and solutions. God then gives the people the water they need, but I wonder about Moses. Ultimately he kept his cool, but in his own struggle he leaves the legacy of naming this place "quarrel" and "test" for this is the place the people wondered if the Lord was really with them or not. This time, Moses doesn't walk away even when he is afraid that the people might kill him. He stays with them. He finds a way for them to have what they need, the water, but he doesn't let them complain their way back to how it "used to be" in Egypt. In this case, the grumbling of the people is not a sign that Moses is a bad leader. But certainly it tests how he will wear the mantle of leadership when the parting of the Red Sea is quickly becoming a faded memory.

In the Matthew text, Jesus also is confronted about his authority to teach. The chief priests and elders throw a trick question at him, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" If he answers that his authority comes from God, he's in trouble. If he answers that his authority comes from the people, he's in trouble. Good thing for Jesus that he knows how to evade difficult questions. He refuses to answer their question until they can answer his. Sometimes a good leader knows precisely when to keep their own mouth shut, and let others do all the talking. Of course Jesus had all sorts of tremendous gifts in both the intellectual and emotional realms. He had the kind of intuitive presence that seems almost scary. How could he have known how they would react? Some leaders seem to be born knowing the human condition so very well as to see things coming a mile away.

Jesus' ability to inspire hope and love was so great that he still has followers today, though it is also true that much is done in Jesus' name that hardly resembles how he taught, or lived, or for what he died. Paul tried in his own way to continue that leadership, and in the letter to the Philippians writes, "If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."

The kind of leadership that is fully present in scripture is the kind of leadership that is not about what's good in this for me; it always asks, "What's good in this for everyone?" Moses and Jesus are perhaps the defining stories of the faith, and yet all the inspirational leaders in the Bible seem to carry an air of self-sacrifice or at least getting out of the way for the common good. It's not about winning elections or popularity contests; it's about following God and helping our fellow human beings. The prayer of confession for today comes from one of our denominational resource books, but it has in it a great line that is what I hope is the "take-home" line for everyone today. It says, "Eternal God, as the Christ, you showed us that love looks not to its own interests, but to the interests of others."

Some may say that love has no business in leadership. Love doesn't get things done, nor does it have anything to do with Presidential elections. The era of spiritual leadership the likes of Moses or Jesus is long gone. But I beg to differ. I'm not looking for leaders who fulfill a specific Christian values check off list, and yet, I hope and I pray for leaders at all levels of government, and church, and family who look out not just for their own interests, but genuinely care about the interests of others. They are ones who share the "mind of Christ" so to speak. For the truth is, we are all in this together. Our lives depend on God hearing the cries of our leaders and letting the water flow from the rock.

In the name of Jesus we pray for leaders who will guide us out of slavery, then hear us when we complain about it. We pray for leaders who will take our good questions seriously and our bad questions playfully. And we pray as both leaders and followers who yearn to share the mind and heart of Christ.

Amen.