Done and Left Undone

Scott Anson Benhase

Description

An original and thoughtful approach to a grace-filled theology of leadership.

In a post-Christian culture, parish clergy can find themselves at a loss, ill-equipped to deal with a reality for which seminary did not prepare them. As a result, the Church and its clergy can seem to flounder from one “program” to the next or get enamored with secular self-help strategies. To learn to lead well in this new context, the Church needs to help clergy refocus on what both works and is true to their tradition and theology. Enter Scott Benhase, whose Done and Left Undone proposes an ascetical theology of leadership based in St. Benedict’s Promise of Stability, Obedience, and Conversion of Life.

The Promise helps clergy move forward from their inward identity to their outward askesis (discipline), their inner life experience of resting in the mercy of God’s grace in harmony with their outward role in the church. Benhase believes parish clergy can lead faithfully and well without following a program or leadership style that does not fit them. Leading from ascetical grace does not require parish clergy to be something they are not. It invites them, rather, to a way of being and an askesis that will help them be both faithful and effective in parish leadership.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Religion
• Leadership

Informations

• Publié par: Church Publishing Incorporated
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780898690637
• Langue: English

Extrait

Done and Left Undone
GRACE IN THE MEANTIME OF MINISTRY
SCOTT ANSON BENHASE
Copyright © 2018 by Scott Anson Benhase
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Church Publishing 19 East 34th Street New York, NY 10016 www.churchpublishing.org
Cover image: David J. Fred / Creative Commons Cover design by Paul Soupiset Typeset by Denise Hoff Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Benhase, Scott Anson, author.
Title: Done and left undone : grace in the meantime of parish ministry / Scott Anson Benhase.
Description: New York : Church Publishing, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017040097 (print) | LCCN 2017049991 (ebook) | ISBN 9780898690637 (ebook) | ISBN 9781640650169 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Pastoral theology. | Church work. | Benedict, Saint, Abbot of Monte Cassino. Regula.
Classification: LCC BV4011.3 (ebook) | LCC BV4011.3 .B44 2018 (print) | DDC 253--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017040097
For my wife, Kelly, the love of my life. Each day she has shown me grace for the things I have done and left undone.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
1 Irresistible Grace, Mostly
2 Ascetical Theology for Parish Leadership
3 The Promise of Stability
4 The Promise of Obedience
5 The Promise of Conversion of Life
6 Ascetical Leadership
7 Ascetical Counsel for Parish Leaders
CONCLUSION (or, How This Might Make Sense and Work)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T his book is a product of thirty-four years of ordained ministry in which so many colleagues, both lay and ordained, collaborated with me. They often endured my wild ideas, hairbrained schemes, and occasional orneriness. Their willingness to stick with me and remain my friends has been a great, enduring gift to me. There are too many to name all of them here, but I want to acknowledge a few.
My colleagues and fellow professed members in the Order of the Ascension have been a source of wisdom and compassion for me during my thirty years as a professed member of the Order. They have challenged me consistently and lovingly to help shape my ministry in the askeses that are faithful and life-giving.
I have served alongside some remarkable senior wardens over the years: Gordon Avery, Julian Bivins, John Chatham, Maggi Eskridge, Sue Guptill, Ann Harkness, Betty Jones, Meg McCann, Paula McClain, Wes Newman, and Dave Shumate each in their own way taught me how to lead a congregation effectively. I credit them with all the good work we did together, while crediting myself alone for the mistakes I made. They never could talk me out of making what turned out to be those mistakes, but they always tried.
My three children: John, Charley, and Mary Grace grew up as children of a parish priest. It was not always easy for them growing up as my children. I am so proud of them. They have grown into mature, generous, and full-hearted adults who care deeply about this world that God so loves.
INTRODUCTION
I have been ordained for thirty-four years. I served in parish ministry for twenty-seven years, and for over seven years I have served as a diocesan bishop. If I listed all that I have done and left undone in those years, then there would no room on these pages for anything else. The phrase “done and left undone” comes from the Confession of Sin in the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer 1979:
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. 1
Oh, the things I have done and left undone, for both good and for ill in the last thirty-four years! And that is why I have written this book. I also hope others will learn from the many things I have done and left undone and find new hope in their parish ministry. While leading a parish is no simple task, it can be done faithfully and effectively without losing our passion for the gospel, or our sanity and health in the process.
I hope my own failings, and some of what I have accomplished through God’s grace, have given me more than a bit of wisdom and perspective on my life, sinner that I am, and on the life of the Church and her leaders. What I have “done and left undone” has often been deliberate, but just as often my own blind spots prevented me from seeing the consequences of my decisions for the Church. This Church, which I love, is the Bride of Christ . I truly believe that. I have a “high” ecclesiology. The Church will not go limping out of human history. Jesus will not turn his back on his own creation.
But I also have “low” anthropology. 2 What I have done and left undone has at times made the Church appear to others more like the Bride of Frankenstein than the Bride of Christ. Nevertheless, I still stubbornly insist that what the ordination collect says about the Church in the Book of Common Prayer is true: it is a “wonderful and sacred mystery.” 3
This perspective of a high ecclesiology and a low anthropology is, I believe, at the heart of the Anglican tradition. It is how I understand and interpret the via media we Anglicans often speak about: bringing the best wisdom from both the Catholic and Reformed traditions. A high ecclesiology means we trust in the tradition we have received and are obedient to “Mother Church,” even when we do not always agree with her. The Church’s collective wisdom over the years is wiser than any one of us. It is arrogant to think otherwise. And a “low” anthropology suggests we should be very wary of our own judgments and motives as individuals and as a church. Trusting ourselves without first holding ourselves accountable to our tradition and to others in the church is a dangerous delusion. Our human propensity to sin means we will get things wrong more often than we care to admit, and that means grace in all things must be our default position.
All this has led me to the conclusion that the church becomes truthful and vital only as we clergy are honest with ourselves about our own sin while being obedient to the tradition we have received. By doing so, we can seek to lead in ways that are faithful to both the claims of Christ and his Church while also leading in ways that are spiritually and emotionally healthy for ourselves and others.
From my observation and experience, when we are committed to the truth about the world and the truth about ourselves, and are also focused on standing in an emotionally healthy and spiritually mature place, then the church tends to get things right more often than not.
Leadership in the Parish
In real estate, they say the three most important considerations are: “location, location, location.” My experience has led me to conclude that in the church the three most important considerations are: “leadership, leadership, leadership.” But leadership is a word that means too many things to way too many people. It is a word thrown around a lot these days in the church. It has become a word in search of a definition mainly due to our collective anxiety about the church’s future.
When people call out for more and better leadership in the church, however, what they are often asking for is someone to lead them in the direction they want to go. People get classified as good leaders only if they are doing what certain people want them to do. Otherwise, they get labeled as “wrong-headed,” “misguided,” or—perish the thought—“against the gospel of Christ” (at least as a particular group chooses to understand it).
So, in many ways, “church leadership” is a term in search of a definition. I will give you mine:
Church leaders are those who stand with the people of God bearing the Great Narrative of Redemption in Jesus Christ. As stewards of this Great Narrative, all that they say and do should proceed from the Divine Truth that in the Cross of Jesus, God has redeemed and reconciled humanity.
This is our primary role as leaders in the church. Everything else must be subordinate to the bearing and stewarding of that Great Narrative of Redemption. When we get sidetracked from that primary role or wander down a rabbit hole of the latest fad in the church that seems enticing at the time, we abdicate our leadership calling in favor of becoming CEOs, community organizers, psychotherapists, political activists, or social activity directors.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Throughout my years of ordained leadership, there has been a growing body of material published and conferences held on how one ought to lead in the church. Interestingly, it has grown in direct proportion to our anxiety over the decline of our membership. It has become a post-Christian cottage industry in the American Church all its own. While they have a few permutations and, on rare occasions, snake oil, these publications and conferences basically fall into three different camps (although there are variations of each).
The first method suggests boldness. Get out in front of the people, stake out the vision, and then charge ahead, trusting that the people will follow. The leader is responsible for creating an