post leadership leading (the computer wore tennis shoes and the priest wears jeans)

three cheers for jonny baker and his rad post on 'the myth of leadership' read this post and all the comments upon it, as a glimplse into the emergence of 'smart mob' or post leader leadership in the emerging church.

this post is so right on, as i get so sick of hearing all the ongoing modern stuff about 'leadership' and all the seminars and consultants and their theories and books.

to all the book writing postmodern gurus (ie moderns in pomo sheeps clothing) this is the age of linux. finally, the computer really does wears tennis shoes! so stop peddling yer proprietary xp 'leadership' propaganda, cause real emerging leaders don't buy it. and yes there are still leaders, but the emphasis is no longer on leaders leading, and more on curating within a community being lead.

when someone comes to one of our liturgies and sees no one 'up front' and asks 'who is in charge of this church' one is likely to hear the reply 'the holy spirit,' as it is certainly is not me.

dare i say that the ministerial priesthood has been highly overrated, but the baptismal priesthood is not.
the 'priesthood of all believers' is the end and the beginning of ministry and the core ordination for all those who are drawn to believe (including us union card carrying priests).

i have not preached a sermon in over a month. (mark pierson would be proud of me), even so, the ministry of the Word in our community continues, as God has given the Word and sacraments, not to priests and bishops, but to the church (the soma of Christ). because of this, and since the begin ning of apostles, i do not vest, and we only vest our worship space. the reason is not to be anti-vesture, but pro soma. in our postmodern culture here, to express the soma, where there is only one head, we are trying in various ways to have our symbols and our theology match. so one way we do this is to leave my clerics in the closet (except if requested for a wedding). - this is not what i was taught in the past, but it is where i'm at in the present/future. at services i wear jeans like everyone else, and in these jeans i'm so decked out! and all of our apostles are equally decked out, as the regalia of a priest, (however grand) pales in comparison to the beauty of the body, decked out, lit up and adored so brilliantly by reflected radiance in the face jesus christ.
here is a picture i took of my two 'heroes' jonny and mark pierson, at some pub in oxford this past summer.

Comments

[lillylewin]

karen ! you are one of my heroes! thanks for all you do and for speaking the truth! the priesthood of all believers! yes and amen!
like mark, i am proud of you...you honestly are living out jesus leadership in the new world!
it is interesting however, how many folks really expect someone up front...and they just don't know what to do when they can't seem to find the "person in charge"...so glad you all are getting it right...it truly is the holy spirit who is in charge! blessings for a great week!
lilly
btw> are you in town after christmas...we'll be heading your way! and it would be great to get together!

[Rachel]

Surfed my way over here via Notes from a Truth Seeker (ThPM) and wanted to tell you that this post really resonates for me, despite the fact that I'm walking a different path. Thanks for this.

[Paul Fromont]

Very very good Karen. You're an inspiration to many of us. Keep on surfing the edge of the wave!