HUMILITAS: LOST KEY TO LIFE, LOVE, AND LEADERSHIP

Sermon Shadow from Prairie Chapel UMC (Fulton, MO) 12/29/13

 

Luke set out to write an orderly account in which he emphasized the Nativity and within that included the “shepherds.”  We’ve mythicized them over the centuries when they were at best the hired hands, really of no account.  Not the kind you would invite to your Christmas party directly from work, or call to come the hospital to see and hold your new born.  Yet God chose them to be the first to hear the good news. 

We find throughout the Gospel that God favors the poor the oppressed.  What is it? What virtue do they have that we must emulate to gain God’s favor?  Author John Dickson, Humilitas: The Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership would suggest “humility”; not groveling, not humiliation, but humility.  In fact, there must be a certain element of self-worth to love others, to do so humbly.  We define humility as “holding one’s power loosely for the sake of others.”

And there is a practical aspect of humility in our relationships, in our businesses, within our families.  A man was beset on a bus by three youths but did not react.  On departing the bus, he handed them a business card reading “Joe Louis, Boxer”; holding his power loosely for the good fortune of the three.  Compare that to Mohamad Ali.  Which do you find more attractive? 

In business, Stanford professor Jim Collins, Good to Great, finds that the leaders of great companies universally marked by a paradoxical mix of professional will and personal humility.  In many cases they are self-effacing, reserved, even shy.  They deflect praise from themselves to their subordinates but stand ready to take the blame. 

In personal relationships we have the power to hurt those we love the most.  Good partners hold their power loosely for the sake of others.  Humility is a treasure in our relationships with one another.

How is it we become humble? It must be a desirable goal, thought of as a thing of beauty or it will be just another un-kept resolution.  Then we should “act as if.”  It is the only way to exercise our humility muscle.  Finally, we learn to be humble by spending time serving the shepherds among us.  In person, if possible, but if not, with thoughtful charity.

Do you see the trait of God here, holding his power loosely for our sake?  Do you the trait of Jesus here, holding his power loosely, in fact nailing it to a cross, for our sake?  Do you see the traits of those God chooses and uses?  Make humility a beautiful thing.  Act as if.  Serve the shepherds among us.