“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Isaiah 52:7.
This column is about leadership. It’s on my mind because we talked about Moses in church yesterday, and because there seems to be a critical leadership vacuum in public life.
One of my favorite Moses stories is the day he came off Mt. Sinai, and there was no mistaking he’d been with God. The Bible says his face shone—not just holding light but shedding it too.
This was a little much for the Israelites. “Put a paper bag over your head, Moses! We can’t stand it!” So, “Moses put a veil over his face.”
Our preacher used the story when ordaining new church leaders. Her other reference was Romans 10:15: “As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”
When we are called to lead—a family, friends, at work, in the community, at church—we are called to be people with beautiful feet, loaded with the radiance that speaks of God’s light resident in us! Not just inside, but light we are shedding.
Imagine moving through life carrying so much light that it falls off, bounces around and gets all over the other people? Light shared like a wet dog standing in the middle of the kitchen and shaking, light getting everywhere.
Leadership that stands in the presence of God, then brings that kind of life and energy and Good News and Peace into everything, light and life that elevates others and invites them into the light too.
Bring Good News. Proclaim Peace. Bring good tidings. Proclaim salvation! And what is salvation again? Salvation is getting caught up in God’s initiatives of grace. Salvation is participating in God’s work.
Good news; Peace; Light. Now that is leadership! So go for it, new elders and deacons. I can’t wait to see the light, the brilliance, the sparkle and the Beautiful Feet. Peace and more peace.
