The greatest?

Reading for Sunday 23rd September 2012, Pentecost 17 can include Proverbs 31:10-31, Psalm 1, James 3*, and Mark 9:30-37 (Proper 25)
Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, projected his profile into the public arena
saying "I am the greatest!"
This was, of course, a marketing or motivational ploy
and it worked quite well.
Now something of a shadow of his former self
we see that the sort of 'greatness'
he espoused
is not eternal, or particularly long-lived.
This is one of life's lessons!
Jesus's teaching about greatness
is that we need to be careful
about what we wish for
True greatness requires
radical servant-hood.
The true leader is called to put their life
at the disposal of those they seek to lead.
This might explain why so many would-be leaders
fall foul of their own ambitions.
There was a sense, that when Ali put himself out there
as The Greatest
that we were all really waiting for him to be defeated
We see it every day
with our political leaders
with the sports stars
and those who have their 15 minutes of fame

THIS WEEK

• Where are we being invited to understand our leadership of others some what better?
• Are there places where we have lost sight of how we can better serve those who we seek to lead?