Good afternoon, the sky and sea are grey today, but it is an improvement from Sunday morning’s snow! Snow in Vancouver in March?! It was a shocker! The snow stayed away just long enough for a very special event in our part of ‘church land’ here. Melissa Skelton was consecrated and then installed as the 9th Anglican Bishop of New Westminster on Saturday. It was an amazing day for her, I’m sure, as it was for me and my friends in the diocese.
Being a Bishop is somewhat like being a CEO, and Melissa’s credentials, including an MBA from Chicago, executive experience at Proctor and Gamble and Tom’s of Maine will serve her well in the many parts of her new role that are very CEO like. In all the pomp and pageantry (as only Anglicans/Episcopalians can really muster), one moment stood out for me. Having been consecrated Melissa approached the doors of the cathedral and knocked on the door. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Video+Melissa+Skelton+installed+bishop+Diocese+Westminster/9568483/story.html The knocking is analogous to the CEO knocking in the doors of the head office! You see, in the Anglican tradition, the executive leadership, the Bishop, asks permission of the community to enter, and therefore to lead. (For those of you in the Commonwealth, you’ll immediately see the similarity to the Royal Representative or the Queen, knocking on the door of the House of Commons to read the Speech from the Throne.) The symbolism is profound; leaders lead only because there are followers. If the followers do not trust you, the end of your power is very close. It was a profound moment to hear the knock, and to welcome the new Bishop in to her/our cathedral.
And then I read this piece my friend and colleague Dixie Black offered in the Notes for this past Sunday’s Bulletin. It’s the late poet and philosopher John O’Donoghue reflecting on leadership. I hope you’ll take the time to reflect on it.
May the gift of leadership awaken in you as a vocation,
Keep you mindful of the providence that calls you to serve.
As high over the mountains the eagle spreads its wings,
May your perspective be larger than the view from the foothills.
When the way is flat and dull in times of gray endurance,
May your imagination continue to evoke horizons.
When thirst burns in times of drought,
May you be blessed to find the wells.
May you have the wisdom to read time clearly,
And know when the seed of change will flourish.
In your heart may there be a sanctuary
For the stillness where clarity is born.
May your work be infused with passion and creativity
And have the wisdom to balance compassion and challenge.
May your soul find the graciousness
To rise above the fester of small mediocrities.
May your power never become a shell
Wherein your heart would silently atrophy.
May you welcome your own vulnerability
As the ground where healing and truth meet.
May integrity of soul be your first ideal,
The source that will guide and bless your work.
May we find this week the courage to knock on the doors to see if we’ll be invited inside the lives and work of those with whom we work.