Oct

16

Can I Get an Amen?

Filed Under Uncategorized 

Friends,

It is referred to as a call and response, and unaccustomed to it, I found it startling at first. But I have come to appreciate it deeply. In most of the churches (as well as synagogues and even a mosque or two) that I had visited in the first four decades of my life, quiet and order were the watchwords. In my Catholic tradition and in most Protestant churches where I had worshipped, the minister spoke and the people listened €“ to him if he was good, to coughs and bird songs and whispering neighbors when he wasn’t. But in the last four years I have regularly visited black churches to recruit mentors to work with children. And there I experienced the phenomenon of call and response.
Are you hearing me? a pastor might ask, and he or she would receive in return a random cascade of a preach it, all right, talk to him Jesus, oh yes, or any number of other words of encouragement and reply. He need not even ask. Words are offered up freely, especially when he begins to quicken his pace and volume. The congregational volume will regularly rise with his. The followers respond, but the followers increasingly lead, as their emotional energy lets the preacher trust in his message and know he is being heard. They would likely describe it as the holy spirit in motion, but you needn’t have religious faith to feel that a powerful dynamic is at play. Leader and led are moving each other.

Reverend Jim Wallis spoke in Lansing a couple weeks ago about his great book God’s Politics. He told the story of how nearly frozen he was when he took to the pulpit in the historic church of his hero Reverend Martin Luther King in Atlanta, until an elder(ly) man in the front corner began to call, all right now, and preach it, and a steady stream of encouraging words. Reverend Wallis said he found his groove and some eloquence and passion, and after his talk he found the man and thanked him. The fellow said something like, Oh, yes, I’ve raised up a lot of preachers in my day.

Call and response speaks to us as followers. How well we do we bring out the best in our leaders? Or do we expect them to always be strong, clear, and perfect, without any support or guidance from us? As a parent I reflect back on the 18 or so years when I was a child and so seldom told my parents or my teachers or my coaches amen, that’s right, come on with it. Followers have a lot more power than they think to use. Are you using your power to encourage?

And from your positions of authority, you might ask, Are you hearing me? a little more often. Sometimes you’ll find out as a result that they’re not! — you’re off track and so you can adjust. But often you might gain the encouraging response that drives you forward, pulling out your best, inspiring you so that you can…

Lead with your best self,

Dan

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