January 2, 2000, Leadership for a new millennium, Lect

SPECIAL DAY: SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY

January 2, 2000 - LESSONS: Jeremiah 31.7-14; John 1.1-18

SERMON TITLE: Leadership for A New Millennium

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INTRODUCTION:

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND A BLESSED NEW MILLENNIUM

On New Year's Eve, Helga and I were watching the celebration on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
1. I was truly impressed with the singing of O Beautiful for Spacious Skies, by, Katharine Lee Bates who lived from 1859-1903.
  1. This was her vision of America as she saw it.
  2. This was her dream for America as she envisioned the future.
    1
    0 beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
    For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain!
    America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
    And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.
    
    2
    0 beautiful for pilgrim feet, Whose stern, impassioned stress
    A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness!
    America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
    Confirm thy soul in self control, Thy liberty in law.
    
    3
    0 beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
    Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life!
    America! America! May God thy gold refine,
    Till all success be nobleness, And every gain divine.
    
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    4
    0 beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years
    Thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears
    America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
    And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea.
2. There is another poet who had a quite different vision of America.
3. His vision of the future was more pessimistic.
4. Carl Sandburg, who lived from 1878-1967, wrote Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind.
  1
  The woman named To-morrow
  sits with a hairpin in her teeth
  and takes her time
  and does her hair the way she wants it
  and fastens at last the last braid and coil
  and puts the hairpin where it belongs
  and turns and drawls: Well, what of it?
  My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone.
  What of it? Let the dead be dead.
  
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  2
  The doors were cedar
  and the panels strips of gold
  and the girls were golden girls
  and the panels read and the girls chanted:
      We are the greatest city,
      the greatest nation:
      nothing like us ever was.
  The doors are twisted on broken hinges.
  Sheets of rain swish through on the wind
      where the golden girls ran and the panels read:
      We are the greatest city,
      the greatest nation,
      nothing like us ever was.
  
  3
  It has happened before.
  Strong men put up a city and got
      a nation together,
  And paid singers to sing and women
      to warble: We are the greatest city,
          the greatest nation,
          nothing like us ever was.
  And while the singers sang
  and the strong men listened
  and paid the singers well
  and felt good about it all,
      there were rats and lizards who listened
          ...and the only listeners left now
          ...are...the rats...and the lizards.
  
  And there are black crows
  crying, "Caw, caw,"
  bringing mud and sticks
  building a nest
  over the words carved
  on the doors where the panels were cedar
  and the strips on the panels were gold
  and the golden girls came singing:
      We are the greatest city,
      the greatest nation:
      nothing like us ever was.
  
  The only singers now are crows crying, "Caw, caw,"
  And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways.
  And the only listeners now are...the rats...and the lizards.
  
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  4
  The feet of the rats
  scribble on the door sills;
  the hieroglyphs of the rat footprints
  chatter the pedigrees of the rats
  and babble of the blood
  and gabble of the breed
  of the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers
  of the rats.
  
  And the wind shifts
  and the dust on a door sill shifts
  and even the writing of the rat footprints
  tells us nothing, nothing at all
  about the greatest city, the greatest nation
  where the strong men listened
  and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was.
5. Carl Sandburg, lived through two world wars, Korea and the opening salvos of Viet Nam.

MAIN BODY:

There is no question that we need a vision of the future that can become the beacon which guides us to a constructive and productive destination.
1. Where and how are we going to a vision of America and life?
  1. Our candidates for President are articulating their vision for America.
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    1. In alphabetical order the major candidates are:
      Bauer, Gary
      Bradley, Bill
      Buchanan, Pat
      Bush, George W.
      Forbes, Steve
      Gore, Al
      Hatch, Orrin
      Keyes, Alan
      McCain, John
      and don't forget
      Trump, Donald
2. Harold Lindholm suggested that I read an Ask Marilyn piece in the Parade section of the December 5, 1999, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  1. It is very good.
  2. The question is asked by Lawrence Nowak of Torrance, California, "Will you please provide your outlook on what the next century holds for us and what we'll need to be happy with it?"
  3. Marilyn vos Savant replies in part, "We've all heard of the Seven Deadly Sins, which warn us what not to do. But for the new world ahead, we need more than that. Here are what I call the Seven Sacred Virtues.
    1. Having Humility instead of pride
    2. Having Generosity instead of covetousness
    3. Having restraint instead of Lust
    4. Having Kindness instead of Anger
    5. Having Moderation instead of Gluttony
    6. Having Charity instead of Envy
    7. Having Diligence instead of Sloth.
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  4. In a few words, she explains each one.
    1. The HUMILITY to know that we are not alone in the world.
    2. The GENEROSITY to allow others to have what they deserve.
    3. The RESTRAINT to control our most passionate impulses.
    4. The KINDNESS to tolerate the mistakes of our fellow man.
    5. The MODERATION to satisfy ourselves with the necessities.
    6. The CHARITY to help those who are unable to help themselves.
    7. The DILIGENCE to make ourselves useful in the modern world.
3. What will it take to achieve what Marilyn calls, "A Clarity of Vision?"
The one things it takes, as we are all becoming increasingly aware is leadership.
1. The candidates for President are traveling, spending money, and trying to convince you and me of the benefits of their leadership.
2. We listen to the candidates for president talk about their vision.
  1. They each have a vision
  2. They each desire you and me to provide them with the resources to produce their dream.
3. As a country, we will decide in November, if we survive the process with a little energy, who will lead us in the next century.
4. Scott Adams in Don't Step In the Leadership, offers another view of leadership.
  1. Cartoon No. 1
    Dilbert: "I'd like to talk about my career path."
    
    Boss: "Okay." "My plan is to work you until your health deteriorates and your skills are obsolete. Then I'll downsize you."
    
    Dilbert: "I'm ill."
    
    "Really? I've never had a plan work this fast before."
    
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  2. Cartoon No. 2
    The Boss sitting at a table with Wally and Dilbert says: "My new policy is to discriminate against single people. Its totally legal."
    
    Wally and Dilbert are sitting, expressionless.
    
    "Write your marital status on this list, so I know who has no reason to go home at night."
    
    As Wally and Dilbert follow the Boss he says:
    
    "Dang! What are the odds you'd all be polygamists?"
  3. Adams has a disaffected view of leadership.
  4. This is the reason for the title of this collection of Dilbert cartoons.
  5. Does this in any way reflect our views of leadership, that is unless you are a leader.
5. But what do we conclude about leadership?

CONCLUSION:

The sermon title for this Sunday, January 2, 2000, the beginning of a new year is, Leadership for A New Millennium.
1. Because this is an election year, one of the major questions that we will be asked to decide is, "Who will lead us in the future?"
2. It is also necessary to ask the same question of our spiritual lives, "Who will lead us in the future?"
There is only one answer that we can give: "Our leader is Christ."
1. As a pastor, I have spent a large block of time seriously considering the importance of leadership.
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1. A great leader ought to help us obtain, maintain and grow three necessary and vial components of life.
  1. Faith
  2. Courage
  3. A sense of humor
2. In this Jesus Christ provides divine leadership.
3. Jeremiah reveals God's vision (read what Jeremiah has to say).
  [11] For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. [12] They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again. [13] Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. [14] I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the LORD.
4. John provides the imagery of the purpose and power to fulfill it (read what John has to say).
  John 1:1-5, 9, 14 16-18 NRSV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was in the beginning with God. [3] All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being [4] in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. [5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. [9] The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. [12] But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. [14] And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. [16] From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. [17] The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [18] No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
We can do no better than to rise up and follow him.

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