Today’s Scripture
Reading (August 13, 2015): Exodus 39
The political debate season has started with people tuning in
to see – okay, I have to admit that I don’t think that I have ever understood
this next part – what was it that we wanted to see again? The problem is that
the debate structure has a fatal flaw. It puts one man on a stage to describe
what he thinks should happen, should he ever become President. But elections
should never be thought of as the choosing of one man. The Republican debates
feature several types of people from the charismatic and flamboyant Donald
Trump, to the highly intelligent and thoughtful (but apparently not spontaneous)
Jeb Bush, to Carly Fiorina, an accomplished (somewhat at least) business woman
whose whole purpose in this affair is counterbalance Hillary Rodham Clinton, to
the protectors of the religious right – enter Mike Huckabee. And the list goes
on. In some way every one of the Republican Candidates have something good and
strong to offer the Office of the President of the United States – but they
also carry with them a weakness. And the mission of each of them during the
debate is threefold – 1) project their strength, 2) protect their weakness, and
3) expose their opponent’s weakness. If you can do these three things you have a
chance of winning the debate.
But none of this has anything to do with being President (and
that is probably why some Presidents have been miserable failures – they have continued
the practice of the debate once the election was over, continually doing
nothing but projecting their strengths, protecting their weaknesses, and
exposing the weaknesses of those around them at every opportunity – this does
not make an effective President.) To be honest, I am not even sure that I care
what it is that you think you should do in 2017, should you take over the
office from Barak Obama. I am sure that there are realities that none of the
candidates know anything about that is going to severely shift their positions
on that first day when they get to sit in that chair behind the desk in the
Oval Office. And in that moment all of this becomes less about you and more
about the team that you have assembled around you. The President of the United
States has to be the great collaborator, he or she needs to be able to
recognize good ideas, and leave behind bad ones in the face of new realities –
even if these bad idea was promised to the American People during the campaign.
A good President has the ability to form the brain trust and has the courage to
do what is right – no matter what that might entail. These are the things that
make up a good President – or even just a good leader – and none of these
attributes are tested in the grand debate.
Moses was the carrier of a vision. It was a vision that was
handed to him by God. But the reality was that, as good a leader as Moses was,
he did not have the ability to complete the task. What he could do was form the
team that could do the job. And that is precisely what he did. He handed off
the day to day responsibility to his young nephew Ithamar, and let the team
that he had chosen do their job. No doubt Moses excitedly examined the task
periodically during the process, but the team completed the vision. And when
the job was done, Moses inspected the God vision that the team had made a
reality.
Whoever wins the election next year, this is the leader that
we need. Not some politician who thinks he has all of the answers, but the one
with the ability to put the team together to accomplish the dream. Because
every one of us is smart enough to realize that big dreams are never
accomplished by just one person – in order to complete them, it takes us all.
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Exodus 40
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