Our denominational publishing house contacted me last year after a writer had to drop out of an assignment. The editor asked if I could write guidelines for teachers to go along with the curriculum. Since the three lessons were from the Gospel of John, I relished this study and found it rewarding.
One of the lessons was about the healing at the Pool of Siloam. Jesus spat in the dust, made a pasty poultice, covered the eyes of the blind man and asked him to wash in the nearby pool.
So why did Jesus heal in this manner? John gave no explanation, so we don’t know.
The editor called before Christmas and asked if I could be on a teacher podcast. We recorded this remotely, and the first question he asked was, “Why did Jesus heal in this manner?” I think I muttered and sputtered and admitted I had no clue.
I think much of church life is like this.
Of course there are authoritative leaders who claim to know it all.
I hear preachers sometimes who tell illustrations of challenges they faced and how they directed the person or the congregation to make the correct decisions. Maybe this is a selective memory. I often tell personal stories in the pulpit, but most often they’re mistakes I made (hopefully from the head and not from the heart since I think I meant well!).
In fact, one of the benefits of growing older is realizing all the wisdom gained from all the bad decisions one has made.
As a grad student at Auburn University, I was introduced to an exercise demonstrating that “two heads are better than one.”
The exercise assumed a manned rocket crash on the moon, and survivors needing to determine what salvaged items were most important in their trek to the control station. Individuals take the test first, and then groups do it. Invariably the group decisions are more accurate. I continue to use this exercise when I have classroom lectures on the value of group discussion.
Group decisions are generally more accurate than individual decisions, plus we build consensus when we not only ask for additional wisdom but ask for assistance with the tasks we face.
King Solomon insisted, “Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers,” (Proverbs 11:14). And the apostle Paul in the New Testament insisted the prophetic leaders of the church validated one another in their work (1 Corinthians 14: 32).
No one of us knows it all, and leaders mustn’t give the impression that we do.
Someone noted that the question, “What do you think about this?” can be among the sweetest sounds in the ear of another.
