Ligaments and Leadership

When I was 16, I tore a ligament in my knee.

Up until then, I had been blissfully unaware that ligaments existed. I probably had been told about them in health classes, but compared to more obvious things like kneecaps and elbows and muscles, they hadn't made much of an impact on me.

Until the day that one of those hidden, taken-for-granted, ligaments got torn. Not only was it remarkably painful, but I found out in the ensuing weeks of healing how weak I really was without it to do the simplest things like walking without hobbling, or sitting comfortably.

In the book of Ephesians, Paul notes that we, at our best, are like ligaments. Oh, sometimes we can also be like the more noticeable stuff - eyes, ears, hands - but most of us, most of the time, are more like ligaments. "From Christ the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Eph. 4:16). That's an important image of Christian leadership. And once we've begun to hear the call of Christ upon our lives to follow and learn, we are, in some ways, leaders, even when our role of leadership is the quiet, often hidden, connecting, supporting work that makes it possible for us all to move toward a goal. Such leadership serves Christ, while serving one another, and even enriching ourselves along the way.

This Sunday, January 22, we will be including leadership recognition moments in worship, as we pray for the chairpersons and members of the church work areas, Council, committees and boards. Part of what we'll be doing in those moments is to recognize the "ligament leadership" entrusted to all of us - to care for those daily, seemingly small opportunities to connect with and support one another for the growth of us all as Christ's body.