Broken and Empty: Pastoral Leadership as Embodying Radical Courage, Humility, Compassion, and Hope

摘要

This article presents a reflection on pastoral leadership through the prisms of the particular issues and crises extant in U.S. society and a passage from the Gospel of Thomas. I argue that the current social dilemmas and struggles in the U.S. represent a crisis of care. In particular, I note that several social-political and economic factors heighten existential vulnerability and anxiety, which in turn give rise to rampant social, class, and ecclesial divisions, hostile conflicts, and interhuman alienation, all of which signify and contribute to a diminished obligation to care for Others. This diagnosis of the social situation sets the stage for a prescription—depicting the kind of leadership needed in society and communities of faith. Beginning with a brief eisegetical account of a passage from the Gospel of Thomas, I contend that care-full pastoral leadership in a polarized society requires radical courage, humility, compassion, and hope. I conclude with a brief discussion on ways to form pastoral leaders who can attend to the ambiguities, uncertainties, vulnerabilities, and division within their churches, as well as invite their communities of faith to be compassionate and reconciling presences in a culture of conflict and alienation.