A Tight Ship

May 4 2009

Today's Reading: 1 Samuel 14-15 and 1 Corinthians 14

There is a lot of talk at churches about leadership. I suppose it sounds better than politics, but many churches want to talk about leadership because we want to feel important. Not only that, the idea of being over someone for good reasons appeals to all of us.

Of course, I think I know why all of us aren’t leaders. We don’t want that whole responsibility thing. I think that I mentioned this the other day when I was talking about Saul, and how he didn’t want to be King.

I think we can all see why. Saul did screw things up. I realize that this guy gets a lot of bad press because of what he did to David, but there are some things that I would have to say were pretty good. He did defeat a lot of the invading armies. If you look at some of the other judges, Saul may not be the best, but certainly not the worst.

If there was a problem with Saul’s reign, it was because he didn’t really run a tight ship. There was an incident where he ordered everyone to fast. Sadly, the word didn’t get out. Jonathan did eat the honey, and he had to suffer. Of course, no son of the king did suffer over that, really.

Yeah, Saul was not like the guy in Judges who sacrificed his daughter after the battle was won. Then there was the incident with all the Amalekites. I suppose you could say that it was the fault of the men, and they were the ones who wanted to spare the sheep. It would be too kind to call Saul a victim here.

After all, the thing that happens when you become a leader is to run a “tight ship”. To make certain that every piece of the machine is a constant, with no room for any variables.

I suppose this is why the reading in 1 Corinthians 14 talks about how churches should be run. That “everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way”.

The truth is, that orderly can only go so far. And in all honesty, as much as I hear churches talk about leadership, many of them don’t want to be decent and in order. Many of them want to leave their services in the hands of the Holy Spirit, really.

Does anyone want a ship that is run so tight that even the rats are in a cell? No. Leadership can keep things in order, but some times there must be a little chaos. The problem is that chaos is never around when it is wanted, and always in abundance when it is needed.