Leadership is for other people – by Tobias Mayer

‘And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?’

Exodus 3:11

Leadership is for other people.

We hear this refrain, or some version of it, perhaps aloud but more often as a silent undertone as we and those around us skirt responsibility in our work environments, neighbourhoods, churches and communities.

When it comes to leadership there is the vague expectation that it is ‘someone else’s job’.

Leadership vacuum

Our avoidance, our moving away, quite naturally creates a vacuum—a leadership vacuum—that must be filled. But by who?

We humans, in practically all cultures and in most situations, have a very poor track record of good leadership. History is littered with despots back to the dawn of civilisation.

Taking just the two books of Kings as a reference, common agreement tells us that out of forty rulers there were just four decent kings, i.e. those who held the welfare of the people and the Covenant itself in equally high esteem. The others, to one degree or another betrayed both their God and their people.

Filled by the unworthy

The further we move away from the centre, the greater the vacuum, and the more readily it is filled by the unworthy. During Moses’ time, the leaders of the Hebrew people were also their owners, their oppressors. God, and the people themselves, tolerated this situation for generations, until finally God calls Moses to step up.

As an aside, the idea of being “called” by God must imply that the one called is listening to God. It is perhaps possible that we are all being called, all of the time, but we don’t hear the call, or hearing we don’t heed. Moses heard, and he heeded, even though, as we learn, he really, really didn’t want to.

The reluctant hero

Following Moses’ call to the quest of leading God’s people out of Egypt we see an immediate refusal of the call.

And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. / And Moses said before the Lord, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?

Exodus 4:10 / 6:30

This is consistent with the first stage of the hero’s journey, a common pattern in storytelling: Odysseus prefers an easy life with his family, Luke Skywalker cannot leave his uncle Owen’s farm, Hercules feels he is not up to the tasks ahead, and so on. What is less common is the repeated nature of the refusal we see in the Exodus story.

Moses is perhaps the most reluctant hero in any epic tale, repeatedly putting himself down in the hope he’ll be spared this responsibility. It was not to be. Whether Moses’ reluctance was borne of fear, a sense of inadequacy or a genuine concern that his inability to speak well would render him ineffective for God’s work has been the subject of centuries long theological debate.

The terms ‘slow tongue’ and ‘uncircumcised lips’ suggest that Moses may have had a speech impediment, or possibly that (raised Egyptian) he spoke only broken Hebrew, this latter condition explaining why the Israelites initially refused to heed him.

The hero’s journey

Whatever the reason, God counter’s each one of his refusals, and provides support for Moses through magical abilities and the voice of his brother Aaron. This equipping a hero with extra abilities is another pattern we see in the Hero’s Journey, a modern and well-loved version being Agent Q issuing James Bond with a series of useful (and almost magical!) gadgets.

Speculation and speech impediments aside, there is certainly an air of apprehension in this story. This is not a fear of the unknown, not a fear of adventure, but a fear of self, of one’s own potential.

Courage is not the absence of fear, they walk hand in hand. To act with courage means to experience the fear and go forth anyway. Moses went forth, and ultimately Moses shone.

Our own journey

All of us are called to leadership, not all at the same time, and not all in the same way, but we are all called. This is simply part of being a person in community.

To hear the call we need to seek quiet time, contemplation time, listening time.

Amidst the helter-skelter of modern life and the sheer, overwhelming busy-ness of it all there seems to be little time for such listening. Moses leaving Egypt, and dwelling for years in the quietness of the desert gave him the space to hear the call.

We probably don’t need to take such drastic measures, but maybe a few minutes a day put aside with the express intent to listen—in whatever way, and to whatever calling makes sense to us—would open our ears, and soften our reluctance.

Even simpler would be the act of pausing when agitated and asking ourselves the question: how can I be of service, right now?

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Tobias Mayer lives in Sheffield and works as a teacher, facilitator and coach. He runs teamwork and leadership workshops utilising the Bible in creative and non-coercive ways, for example Scripture at Work and Right Relations.