daniel troy carmichael

Returning to the Familiar

Recently, we drove through the Pisgah's on a Sunday afternoon excursion. I spent a lot of time growing up in the Smokies; returning to the familiar sounds and sights was delightful. Of all the things that have changed in the decade-and-a-half I have been gone from this land, the ancient mountains have remained much as I remember.

Two months after graduating from college, I was married; two weeks later, my wife and I had moved across the country. Until this past Winter when we returned to the Southeast, my entire adult life was lived in Pleasanton, California. I realize now after my trip to the Smokies that, for all those years in California, I resided in constant unfamiliarity. Like returning to my own bed after weeks away, unexpectedly comforting is it to be back in a land that is once again familiar.

There are no mountains in the world older than the Smokies and I feel something ponderously powerful about the presence and peace of God in that ancient place. I wonder if there will be something of this in Heaven, a returning to the familiar, and if life on Earth will be remembered as unfamiliar?

The Lord's Supper: Has it become just a religious snack?

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 1 Corinthians 11:23b-25, NIV

Our church celebrated their first Communion (a.k.a. The Lord's Supper and The Eucharist) in the new facility yesterday. Jesus instituted only two rituals while on Earth, Communion and Baptism. Though raised in a traditional church, over the years my study of the Bible has lead me to believe that Jesus intended for Communion to be practiced differently than how The Church at large has decided to practice it.

I believe there is a place in the Church today for how we practice Communion. That said, I believe that for almost every Christian, self included, it has simply become a religious snack we practice at some point when we are together in a building we call Church. At that time, we may piously remember Him and verify that we are in the right state of heart to partake; nevertheless, I believe the Church practices communion differently than how Scripture reveals.

I have drawn these conclusions about how Communion was intended to be practiced:

1. It is to be celebrated
   • By a group of Believers
   • While gathered at a table
   • While eating supper
2. Regarding the elements,
   • The bread was eaten before the meal
   • The wine was drunk after the meal
   • The supper eaten between the bread and wine may even be part of The Lord's Supper, with the bread and wine acting as bookends to the meal.
3. And it appears that
   • It was not intended to be performed as part of a religious ceremony in a larger corporate setting (such as a church congregation, today, or synagogue setting in the early years. Jesus tied it to the Passover Meal, a familial gathering, as opposed to the Passover Sacrifice, which was a corporate gathering)
   • There were no special requirements to administer it (i.e., no one had to be ordained or be in a position of ecclesiastical/church leadership, such as a deacon or elder, to "lead" it)
   • The wine was, well, wine, and the bread was bread. Evidently it tasted pretty good.

The ICF Leadership Trap

It was Brutus, a man Caesar thought was his friend. "Et tu, Brute?" ("You too, Brutus?") Caesar asked. Realizing that even his friend had turned against him, he stopped resisting. Caesar fell to the floor and died. He had been stabbed 23 times. (quoted from here)

Being part of the inner inner-circle of your leader's life is an interesting position: on one hand, you are trusted adviser, confidant, and friend who knows all the weaknesses and strengths of your leader; on the other hand, the leader is still your leader and you his follower.

The inner-circle followers (ICF's) of a leader's life are critical to an organization's success, whether it be a business, a church, a family, or a political organization. It is no wonder, then, that the enemy seeks to destroy the relationships between a leader and those of his ICF. From this group comes the bitterest of all betrayals.

(continuing from yesterday's entry)

At a high level, what happens in the ICF Leadership Trap is that the leader, in seeking too much to obtain consensus, unwittingly puts members within his ICF in a relational position where they may come to see themselves at the same leadership level as their leader ("He keeps on asking my opinion and wants my consent. He must need my help and not know where he is leading."). In his own insecurity and his insecurity in his leader who keeps seeking his consent, a form of power usurpation and self-exaltation occurs in the ICF member's heart. This usurpation is the spring in the trap which gets tightly wound to snap shut once it is finally sprung.

Because of his closeness to the leader ("I'm in his inner-circle of relationships") the ICF may become presumptuous that he has a right to "speak into" the leader's life. The nastiness of this type of wrong thinking is that, if the leader does not then heed and follow the ICF's advice, the ICF allows himself to become emotionally wounded as his ego is damaged because he wasn't "listened to" ("I thought my leader valued my opinion enough to listen to me!").

Over time, this woundedness can develop into resentment and subsequently bitterness because the issue is left unresolved between the member of the ICF and the leader. A good person, the ICF tries to "deal with the issues" he sees (the "weaknesses" in his leader) all the while ignoring the weakness in his inability to follow and the usurpation in his heart of his leader's position of leadership. The axiom that familiarity breeds contempt becomes appropriate at this time: the follower has become too familiar and presumptuous toward his leader.

Ultimately, at some point, something has to give.  At the end of the day, since the leader is still "the leader", the ICF takes his emotional ball and leaves to go play somewhere else. In his woundedness, he recounts all the failings of his leader (and he knows them, he was part of the inner circle) and the woundings of his heart, spreading it around like gossip to those in his relationship circle. Like lancing a long-festering wound, when it finally comes out, all the ugliness and puss and blood flood out, spreading gore on all those standing nearby. And the ICF feels relief because "it is finally over".

The tragedy of all of this is that things can look so right for so long from the outside that, when things finally come to the breaking point, a crisis develops that surprises everyone. The shock is sometimes so severe that the confidence and hopes of those not involved are dashed and the damage done much worse than if the situation had been handled properly over the months and years. In all of this, what normally happens is that two groups of good-hearted people, who started out loving each other, end up in fractured relationship all due to their failings in leading and following.

Consensus is the absence of leadership

Consensus is the absence of leadership. Margaret Thatcher

I have been watching several of my friends walk through crises in leadership this past year. These various friends of mine all have natural leadership ability and have achieved their successes with good hearts and noble character. As part of what God is forging in their lives, these crisis (and sometimes chronic) issues are necessary for them to go through in order to become who it is they were born to be. Part of what they are going through is a result of their weaknesses and sin; part is just the fact that they have chosen to lead and, as a result, are the point persons hacking the path through the jungle of progress.

As one not naturally gifted in leadership, I have enjoyed studying it and examining it in the life of my leader friends and famous people. It helps me learn how to become better. One salient point of leadership has become clearer to me this past year and is best summed up in the Iron Lady's quote from above. True leadership seeks not to establish consensus but instead seeks to make the best possible decision for the organization. It seeks truth.

There are many traps to good leadership and one of them is consensus seeking. Within the trap of consensus seeking, there are many obvious variants: seeking the approval of your organization, following polling data, or perhaps just seeking to please anyone more than the Creator. However, the most insidious consensus trap I have discovered so far involves those people whom I call the ICF's, or the "Inner Circle Followers".

An ICF leadership trap is so dangerous because it takes months, and oftentimes years, to set. But only moments to spring. Therefore, it is extremely dangerous because it can rapidly bring to its knees an entire organization that took years to build.

(continued tomorrow)

Blogging: Narcissim or Communion?

Narkissos, the mythological Greek god, fell in love with his own reflection and wasted away; the gods took pity on him and changed him into a flower. From hence is derived the word narcissism. Surely there is something narcissistic about web logging: falling in love with one's own reflections and, if not careful, wasting away into intellectual nothingness. And no doubt there is also an aspect of egotism to suppose that someone would care to read what one of thousands upon thousands of bloggers would say.

But also, God created us for relationship and communion with Him and one another; perhaps the preponderance of blogs on the Internet testifies to the fact that, while all bloggers may, to some degree, be narcissists, we also desire to share our lives and thoughts with other human beings. It's how we were made and the desire to blog could simply be a reflection of His divine attributes in our lives.

I know not from whence comes my desire to commence blogging, even though I have journaled for over twenty years--a strong fountain pen scratching across quality paper is my preferred mode. However, I realize that even if no one but myself ever reads the words I write, I have benefited by the process of crystallizing my thoughts, writing them down (virtually), and gaining a better understanding of who I am and what I think.

So then, if you gain deeper understanding of your life, your world, or your Creator through reading my words, I am doubly blessed, having already received the first blessing by doing the work of writing. So, as I begin this journey of blogging, knowing not whether I do so purely as a narcissist or for some more noble reasons, it has nevertheless begun.