Authority - is the capacity for meaningful action
Vulnerability - is exposure to meaningful risk (when something you care about is at stake / could be lost)
We often think they are opposites / but they are not
We have been created to have more authority and vulnerability than any other creature
There is a paradox that they go together at the moment of greatest flourishing in our lives
A + V = Flourishing
1) High authority / High vulnerability - is flourishing
-the path of a healthy, maturing life is from safety to flourishing
-low authority / Low vulnerability - is safety (like a child)
-the goal is to take more risk / more authority in the world
2) Low authority / High vulnerability - is suffering
-vulnerability without authority - like we experienced in Covid
-you're vulnerable, but no capacity to act
-many people around the world only know this reality
-we then often dream of the other quadrant - to have control with no risk
-High authority / Low vulnerability - is control
-the quest for this control - put's other people in suffering
-we are not created for this
-we need to invite people from each corner to the place of flourishing
3) Biblical / Creative Leadership
-this is the picture of creative / Biblical leadership - the three roles we see in Scripture
-prophet / priest / king
-prophet goes to those seeking control - and says to be dependent upon God
-priest goes to those who are vulnerable - helps them see their place before God and how God meets us in our suffering
-king was meant to live this flourishing life -invites others here - this is living our best life
There's something in all of us that tends to slide to the left - wanting more control / less risk
-we get people advising us to take risk off the table / everyone seems to want this also
-people encourage us toward control
-the drama of leadership is 'hidden vulnerability'
-you can live to the right / might be seen as having control - but have far more vulnerability than people see
-this tension is very challenging - this is the drama of leadership
-knowing how much vulnerability is there for me and others - can't share it
-can lead to burnout - we want to withdraw to safety
-but if we let ourselves go there - it leads to suffering for everyone
How do we avoid this?
-we need good friends - not in the system
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There is a right time and place to move down from flourishing to suffering
-to empty ourselves of all authority that we have and entering voluntarily into suffering
-this is sacrifice - what Jesus did and modelled for us on the cross (Phil 2:1-11)
4) The Redemptive Life
This is the Redemptive Life - having our authority restored / give to us by others
-that has nothing to do with being safe or in control - but the life Christ has called us to live
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