Start-Stop:The Servant Leadership of Hilda of Whitby

The Washing of Feet - Sieger Koder

Good morning and welcome to Start Stop. Our reflection and prayers will last around ten minutes and you are welcome to come and go as your schedule dictates. 

Tonight the the first of the election Leadership Debates airs on TV. Leadership is all about influence and change - different styles of leadership derive from and deploy power in different ways. Today the church remembers Hilda; a member of a Saxon royal family born in a violent period of history that is vividly defined by the consequences of leadership of warrior Kings. But Hilda shunned the influence of her genes and turned to a life of peace and reconciliation; leading by relationship not retaliation. She became Abbess of Whitby and led her monastery through a time of great change for the church in the north of England; implementing Roman rather than the Celtic practices which she preferred. In our bible reading today, Jesus shows the disciples an image of leadership which all Christians aspire to follow and one which, I think, Hilda achieved:

Bible Reading - John 13.12-17

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Reflection

The washing of the disciples’ feet is one of the most vivid visual illustrations of the servant leadership of Jesus. This event is recalled in many churches on the Thursday before Easter - often physically re-enacted with the priest washing the feet of members of the congregation. Jesus is Lord but also a foot-washer, a servant and, in this passage, tells the disciples to act likewise.

According to Keith Lamdin, an expert on leadership, what should make Christian leaders distinctive is that they do just that - seek to live – and lead others – as disciples of Jesus. In his book on leadership styles, he draws on examples of leadership from the Bible and research by social scientists to define different approaches. He divides these into two groups. The first share what he calls a ‘salvation stance’ - the monarch or the warrior leader – hero figures who set out to ‘save’ their people. The monarch offers stability and security; the warrior offers achievement and growth. For both, success is measured by the number of followers they have and both, in different ways, engender an unconscious contract of dependency between the leader and their followers. Most businesses, he remarks, are led by either a monarch or a warrior leader.

The other approaches identified by Keith Lamdin – the servant leader, the elder, the contemplative and the prophet – share what he terms a ‘revelatory stance’ - they are more collaborative in outlook; they lead out of relationship and not out of coercion. Keith Lamdin places Jesus in the servant leadership mould – and finds a perfect fit. True, Jesus was forceful in speech, particularly with some of the disciples, but he never dismissed them – Lamdin finds no evidence in the Gospels that Jesus used his position to force his will on others; just as God’s love is never forced on us. But, he infers, many leaders in the church operate from a salvation stance – as monarchs or warriors, rather than the revelatory stance of the servant Jesus of the Gospels.

Someone who seems to have been an exception to that rule is Hilda of Whitby, who the church remembers today. She was born into a family of warrior monarchs but became a servant leader; as Ray Simpson, founder of the Community of Aidan and Hilda has written; ““Her family loved power obtained by violence; [Hilda] empowered people through love.”

Born in 614 her father, who had been king of Deira (an area just to the north of the Humber) was poisoned before she was born. Hilda became a refugee, fleeing with her mother. She eventually returned to live with her uncle Edwin, and it was while staying with him in York that she was baptised by Bishop Paulinus. After Edwin’s death Hilda fled to her sister in East Anglia. It was at this time that she met Aidan, Bishop of Northumbria, with whom she formed a close friendship. Aidan was very different to Paulinus. Trained in the Irish or Celtic tradition, he wore simple clothes and refused to ride a horse because most people couldn’t afford one. The Harvard Professor Bill George has suggested that the best leaders have all had a formative experience – a crucible moment - in their lives when clear passions were burned into their souls. Perhaps this was Hilda’s? It was at this time that she decided to become a nun. With Aidan’s support she established a religious community north of the River Wear and, after Aidan’s death, became Abbess of Whitby. It was here, in 664, that she hosted one of the defining episodes in the establishment of the English Church – the Synod of Whitby.

King Oswy had called the Synod to decide whether Northumbria should follow the practices of Rome (exemplified by bishops like Paulinus) or continue in the Celtic practices of Aidan and his successors. There was no disagreement in matters of doctrine but of practice – particularly the date of Easter. By this time, King Oswy was married to Hilda’s cousin Enfleda. He observed the Celtic tradition and she the Roman, which meant he could be celebrating Easter while she was still observing Lent. King Oswy invited both sides to Whitby to present their case – although many consider he had made up his mind in advance to side with his wife.

Keith Lamdin identifies some of the characteristics of servant leadership as the ability to listen receptively, accept others, exert a healing influence and build community – gifts Hilda must have had by the bucket load in order to successfully manage the various personalities arriving for the Synod along with their teams of assistants and translators. Bede provides an account of the proceedings. Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, the protégé of Hilda’s cousin, spoke for the Roman side and is portrayed as the most persuasive, asking how men on a corner of a small island could be preferred over the rest of the universal church: “Did Jesus say to Columba as he said to St Peter – on this rock I will build my church?”

Eventually, the delegates voted. Hilda could have abstained but Bede records her declaring in favour of the Celtic tradition she had come to know – against the clear preference of her cousin and others who ruled the Kingdom (as Keith Lamdin explains, servant leadership, as exemplified by Jesus, is assertive and not passive). Oswy found in favour of Rome. Almost immediately thirty monks from Lindisfarne who had been trained by Aidan, left for Ireland. But Hilda decided to stay, to put into place the liturgical changes and routines determined by the synod. Once again in life, Hilda found herself alone – a refugee, this time from the familiar traditions she held dear. Hilda’s last words before she died in November 680 are a testament to a life of one who as a leader sought unity in diversity and respected difference; “preserve the peace of the gospel among yourselves, and also with all others.”

Meditation

We may never know how Hilda came to turn away from the darkness of the family of warrior kings into which she was born and follow the light of Christ as a servant leader. Hilda lived during what we used to call the Dark Ages. Perhaps, in some ways, our own lives are just as mysterious. What has formed us and gives us strength? What sort of leaders are we? Where is the light?  

Prayer

The response to Lord God, our Servant King is : we bring our lives to you as a daily offering.

Lord God, our Servant King
we bring our lives to you as a daily offering.

Lord, help us to shine a light on the darkness in our lives.

Guide us as we search for those crucible moments in which our passions are clear.

Help us to break free from all that holds us back from sharing your love in the world.

Lord God, our Servant King
we bring our lives to you as a daily offering.

We pray for all those in authority.
May they lead by relationship and not coercion; by support and not control;
May they recognise the gifts of others and develop them.  
Encourage them in their work; make known your love through their ministry.

Lord God, our Servant King
we bring our lives to you as a daily offering.

We pray that your kingdom may come
despite everything that seems to fight against it,
a kingdom in which the first are last and the last first,

in which all people live together in justice and harmony.

Lord God, our Servant King
we bring our lives to you as a daily offering.

Blessing

Let us go now and proclaim the Gospel,
   not just through words but deeds -
        through what we say,
        what we do,
        and who we are.
And may the blessing of Almighty God,
Father Son and Holy Spirit,
be among us and remain with us
this day and always.
Amen.


Thank you for joining us today for Start:Stop. Tonight on TV we have the spectacle of the first leadership debate of the election. Tomorrow at 6pm join us for a more reflective evening when the choir sing Choral Evensong. I hope to see you there.

Links
Finding Your Leadership Style, A Guide for Ministers - Keith Lamdin
Hilda of Whitby - A Spirituality for Now - Ray Simpson