Service for the Kirking of East Renfrewshire Council
Twenty-First Sunday Isaiah 22:19-23; Romans 11:33-36; Matthew 16:13-20
 
 
Dear brothers and sisters and friends,  It is good to be with you in Saint Aidan’s today for this Kirking of East Renfrewshire Council welcomed, as we have been so finely, by Canon Nicholas Taylor and the parish community.  Personally it is a joy to see Bishop Gregor with us, as well as fellow representatives from the Jewish and Muslim faiths (and we are honoured by the presence of our Presiding Officer of Parliament, Ken Mackintosh MSP). 
 
This act of worship, which has long since been interwoven into the fabric of the civic life of our local authority, is a dear one, I think to all of us, as we gather together with our Provost, with the Leader of Council and members of our recently elected council and their officials.  I think it is good for us to enjoy some welcome quiet space for reflection and prayer, at the beginning of a new term of office, and before the events that will inevitably come, eventually take their course and require the big effort of our wise responses.  We know our civic leaders take very much to heart the trust our community has placed in them and so, aware of the heavy burden of office, they readily come here to this place, at the beginning of each session, and to the Lord Who is wisdom and strength, in Whom resides all authority in Heaven and earth, and Who is yet the God of all consolation, to ask His kind blessing upon all their labours.
 
We, the people of the locality, come here for our part, aware that our civic leaders put their trust in us too: that we will not quickly abandon them after the casting of our votes, but will support them with the respect and affection they deserve.  Here today, we make that ongoing commitment to them with our prayers to the Lord, to make them wise, to be their strength and to be ready with His mercy and grace.
 
It is not easy to guide our present day societies to the common good when they include, as never before, such diversity of identity, belief and life.  It goes without saying, and long experience shows, that not all diversity can be considered an a priori good, just as sure as not every common cause is to be welcomed.  It is what builds up authentic humanity and decent society that is our charge and responsibility, and so it is our collective prayer and hope, as we gather here to pray, that God, Who came to our same humanity in Jesus of Nazareth, son of a carpenter, will help us discover, preserve and promote all that is genuinely human in our world and, so, to the glory of the our Heavenly Father.   For, as the old Saint Athanasius knew, the glory of God is humanity fully alive. May the God, Who is our Way, Truth and Life, be a good shepherd to us, the guardians - civic and religious- of His good world.  With Him as our Shepherd to lead us to quiet waters and green pastures, may we not want, may we walk in right paths fearing no ill with Him to guide us, and may we thereby find our tables full, our souls restored, our heads anointed and our rest, at the last, secured by Him Who is all goodness and mercy. 
 
Now we come to today’s Scriptures and the Prophet Isaiah. I thrust you from your office and you will be pulled down from your posts, he booms.  Quite a text for today’s proceedings and for the commencement of the term of office of our elected leaders and their officials!   I hope it is not a portent of things to come. I am sure it is not. Straight away I want to add a disclaimer to these texts. I did not choose them!  I promise. Actually these are the texts that will be read in every parish across the world this Sunday, at least in the Catholic Liturgy, taken as they are from our common lectionary. So you need not feel God’s hand falling too heavily on the council of East Renfrewshire.
 
That said, these are texts about the election of leaders, one losing his seat to another, and so are texts that, in God’s providence and in the light of the Holy Spirit, can speak clearly and directly to our hearts today.  In the Scriptures we know that it is God Who does the electing whereas in civic society sovereignty lies in the people.  Still, the qualities looked for in the good leader are transferable ones and apply as much to civic life today as they did in the times of Revelation.    
The rhythm of Biblical times shows us how it is good, and even providential, to have opportunities for re-election, and the chance for the community to take stock, to thrust down all that proved wrong or at least inadequate, so that we can set in place more refined strategies and solutions.
 
As far as regards good leadership I think the Scriptures point out three qualities approved by the Lord.
 
The first is to have correct and clear vision.  In today’s Gospel, when Jesus asked: Who do the people say I am? He found a civic society that had many opinions, some plain wrong and all the rest to some extent inadequate.  He was not, in fact, John the Baptist, risen from the dead, nor was He Elijah, and He was not merely a prophet.  Yet, amid all this disparity of opinion, Jesus found a way to lead His people on, by insisting on the truth with clarity and resolve.  It is no easy task for elected officials to take due consideration of popular opinion, as we see Jesus did while, at the same time, being clear about what is right and just; but it is a necessary quality of good leadership.
 
The second quality of leadership is good-heartedness.  In the Isaiah text the Lord calls it the authority of fatherly service.  He is not advocating some kind of outmoded paternalism.  His point is deeper.  Instead the Lord hopes that those in civic authority will take their work to heart, yes take some things personally, rather than simply administering business with the calculating hand of bureaucracy.  So, although the leaders are charged to shut down what is wrong and be open to what is right, their lasting authority comes not because they are feared but because their closeness and integrity win honour and respect in the community.
 
The third quality is an attitude of service. Significantly Jesus ends this Gospel passage with the warning to His disciples to tell no-one He is the Messiah.  Instead He preferred to be known among the people simply as one who served.  As leaders, civic and religious, the temptation to a certain celebrity and even Messiaism is never far away.  Modern election campaigns seem almost founded upon promising the earth.  But campaigning, we know, is not leading, and our true and faithful service is all our people want or, at least, can truly expect.  It is certainly all that God asks.  When a young journalist asked Mother Theresa for the secret of her success she replied, God did not ask me to be successful; He asked me to be faithful’.  So too with us!
 
Whether religious or civic, leadership can so often feel like an impossible burden.  As a religious leader Saint Paul wondered how he could ever know the mind of God.  As civic leaders no doubt you similarly wonder how you can even know the mind of your people when, most times, they do not even know it themselves.  Paul concludes: Who would be a counsellor!   
 
So by way of conclusion perhaps a word of comfort from a survey of the key figures in today’s Scriptures.  All that the Lord asked of Eliakim was to act honourably, and Saint Peter, who made too many whopping mistakes to be counted, was commended because, even when the going got tough, he never gave up but, trusting in the Lord, found his way to the light.