Monthly Archives: May 2012

If Jesus was indeed identifying himself with the Eastern understanding of Reality of “way” in somewhat the same manner that the Western mind understood it as “word,” then the disciples must have been utterly amazed and greatly encouraged. This makes … Continue reading →

Jesus’ choice of the word “way” is most likely his way of  responding to Thomas’ question, where the same word was used to frame the question, “How can we know the way?” But it should not escape our attention that … Continue reading →

“If Jesus is the face of God, we’re in luck.  This really looks good for all of us.”  Richard Rohr.

After challenging his readers to lay down the largely-secular model of the “CEO Christian leader,” Sweet turns his attention directly to Jesus, interpreting his statement, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” in the bulk of his book. … Continue reading →

Richard Rohr recently posted a meditation reminding us that higher needs (goodness, beauty, truth) cannot be attained before lower needs (food, clothing, shelter) are tended to.  He put it this way…. When you cannot enjoy the lilies of the field … Continue reading →

Sweet ends his exploration of the challenges that attend true followership by commenting on the courage to take moral action… Most everyone reading this book has both witnessed and heard stories ad nauseam of pastors and Christian leaders who behave … Continue reading →

Sweet continues to explore the challenges that attend being a true follower…. Leadership-centric cultures tend to create protective force fields around top-dogs.  Their attitudes and character, unseen from the pulpit and concealed in the foyer, are off-limits to underlings.  But … Continue reading →

To become a follower does not mean becoming someone who never critiques, never speaks out, or never challenges.  And it surely doesn’t mean becoming a lackey who says and does whatever the leader demands.  In fact, when we are following … Continue reading →

Spend time with most leaders today, and the conversation will move into topics related to “how hard” it is to lead today.  Specific reasons abound, but the toll which is exacted in terms of burnout and break down is clearly … Continue reading →

Weaning ourselves from a collapsing “leadership paradigm” is difficult, and we must be sure that we don’t over correct and end up with an equally-false opposite. Len Sweet continues to guide us toward “followership” by suggesting that resources like Stephen … Continue reading →

I found the following comment from Mother Teresa to be very helpful and inspiring… Prayer makes the heart large enough until it can contain God’s gift of Himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will grow big enough to receive … Continue reading →

Here’s another post from Len Sweet’s excellent book, I Am a Follower… He writes in relation to Jesus’ words, “But among you it will be different.  Whoever wants to be a leader among you must first be your servant” (Mark … Continue reading →

Saint Raphael Baron unites in a few words what should never have been separated in the first place:  love for God and love for others…. When we love Jesus, when we love Christ, we necessarily love what he loves. This … Continue reading →

I am so convinced that Leonard Sweet’s new book, I Am a Follower is a grace gift to us that I am going to add a new category to my Oboedire postings:  “Followership.” It will be an occasional post, not … Continue reading →

We continue our look at Richard Rohr’s meditations on “the world, the flesh, and the devil.”  In a recent post he spoke of the dangers which can come to us when we give primary allegiance to a secondary thing… For … Continue reading →

Richard Rohr has been writing daily meditations on the description of evil as, “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” In a post this past Wednesday, he wrote about the danger of worshiping any system—even good ones…. When you worship … Continue reading →

John Tauler (1300-1361) comments on John 10:1-10 in his Sermon 27, giving us this beautiful picture of Christ’s ministry… Our Lord says he is the door of the sheepfold. Now what is this sheepfold, the pen into which Christ is … Continue reading →

I’ve mentioned that I am reading slowly through Leonard Sweet’s excellent book I Am a Follower. He opens his book with the conviction that it is very difficult for a person to “go first” when it comes to taking an … Continue reading →

The main thing I want to share in this “first day” post is the inner sense I have about the Oboedire blog. Not a lot is changing on the outside of it.  The weekly themes are established, and we are … Continue reading →