Servant Leadership

April 7, 2006 -- Week of 5 Lent

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 957)
Psalms 22 (morning) // 141, 143:1-11(12) (afternoon)
Exodus 9:13-35
2 Corinthians 4:1-12
Mark 10:32-45


Today Jesus speaks to the ambition of James and John who wish to sit at places of honor. "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them... But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all."

"Servant Leadership" is a phrase that began popping up in secular literature about 1970. Robert Greenleaf is usually credited with coining the phrase as a way to describe a philosophy of life for leaders engaged in work in business, government and education. In his book "Servant Leadership" he wrote this:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve – after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, will they not be further deprived?”

How different might our institutions be if they were motivated by the principles of Servant Leadership.