Wesley’s Reflection on Authority and Authoritarianism
(Editorial Comment: This is Wesley’s detailed and lively unedited response to Ben’s sermon on “Shepherding Sheep” last Sun, May 26, 2013, at West Loop.)
Ben, I enjoyed your sermon. It’s really good. I find it worth reading more than once, carefully looking up all the Bible quotations. A theme that stands out is warning against “hierarchical leadership,” that is “the leadership style built on a chain-of-command social structure.” This warning can never be overstated. One of the main reasons I had hard time with my three sons growing up was that I exercised hierarchical leadership. Here is a Korean father, imbued with Confucianism, trying to raise three all-American boys. I only thank God for the relationship we have right now. It could have been much worse, even disastrous.
I Dream of Absolute Honesty
[This is in part a response to “Walking in the Light of Absolute Honesty” by Joe Schafer.] We often dream things we never think of while we are awake. Joseph’s two dreams concerned a thing he would have never thought of or imagined. Dream has uncanny ability to make us forget humdrums of daily routine and bring to our consciousness something worthwhile to dream of. Absolute honesty is something I pray for me to be even in my dream. I will discuss later why absolute honesty may be only a dream. But is absolute honesty is something worthwhile to dream of? Absolutely! I would define absolute honesty as my true being. When I am honest, I am being who I am, not who I am not. And how liberating it is for me to be who I am, not who I am not!
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