Looking Ahead to October 30, 2022, 21st Sunday After Pentecost

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 1 Kings 2:10-24
• Psalm 127
• Luke 22:24-30

The Sermon title is Governing Ethics

Early Thoughts: What are the key principles that guide your decision making and actions? That, in a nutshell, is what ethics are.

In these passages we have some principles that might help us form an ethical basis for leadership. Some are positive and some less so.

Let us start with Solomon. David has died and Bathsheba has made sure that her son Solomon will inherit the throne. Perhaps the best known story about Solomon's accession is that he seeks the gift of wisdom instead of long life or riches. That was a good start to his reign. This story about the transfer of power shows Solomon getting off to a much less helpful start. He and his brother argue about who gets to take possession of their late father's young wife/concubine, which leads to the death of the elder brother (who may also have had a stronger case for the throne, being elder). Solomon begins his rule with bloodshed, with possessiveness, with fear and jealousy.  That may be a basis for leadership ethics, but I would advise against that model.

Then we have the Psalm. The poet reminds us of the important role God has in establishing the foundations of a healthy life. Our ethics need to be based on Godly Wisdom, on God's priorities. Otherwise we are, to use an image from the Gospels, building on sand rather than on rock.

And finally we come to the Gospel reading. As people who follow Jesus the teachings shared in the Gospels are one of the primary sources we use as we establish our systems of ethics. Jesus challenges ideas of leader and follower, or greater or lesser, of how power is distributed. Jesus-based ethics are centered on leadership through service. This particular passage also suggests that Jesus-based ethics include a commitment to remain present in trials and hardship. Jesus trusts that his closest friends share his ethical principles and so invites them to share in the tasks of governance in His Reign.

What foundational principles shape our understandings of power and leadership? Are we more like Solomon or more like Jesus? What do others see when they look at us?