Read 1 Samuel 8:10-22 and pause to ask yourself how much mental energy you have expended on grumbling about leadership during your life. If you are anything like me it will be a significant amount. Being in a leadership role can be a thankless task. At National and International level moods change and today’s popular choice becomes tomorrow’s pariah. We have seen it happen in the UK since the General Election as our Prime Minister’s popularity rating has dropped like a stone.
Locally, the same is true at all levels and in many parts of life, including our churches. We like people when we have a superficial view of them but as soon as it is necessary to change something or make a hard choice everyone knows better.
The people of Israel had no king in Samuel’s day but seeing the success of the kings of other nations they wanted one of their own. They were warned that kings require support which may feel expensive or excessive but the view continued, ‘we want a king’.
This weekend sees the beginning of advent. In Framlingham where I live, Christmas lights have been in place since mid-November. The first weekend of celebration happened while the church was still finishing the previous year with the celebration of Christ the King. It is as if we cannot wait to get away from the grown-up God who challenges us and calls us to do things and get back to the baby whom we think we can control.
As advent begins again, reflect on whether you really want to carry on like this, lurching between moments of superficiality and complexity, or whether you will listen to the message of John the Baptist talking about real change, some of which may be unpopular. As I write this, ten days ahead of publication, the chilling sound of sabre rattling dominates the front page of the newspaper. Binyamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin are seen as the world’s pariahs. It is hard to reconcile twinkling lights and missiles.
Do we want a king, a president, a prime minister or idol? Samuel warned the Israelites to be careful what they wished for. As an old Christmas hymn puts it, ‘O hush the noise of sin and strife and hear the angels sing.’
A Prayer
Omnipotent God, as we prepare to celebrate your birth in our flesh, help us make the changes we must make to secure the peace of the world and break out of the routine of lurching from crisis to crisis, from leader to leader but never really grasping the stability that is the point of your reign among us. Give us grace to see though our mistaken views to a better way and having seen it, to follow is for the real Jesus’s sake. Amen.