Becoming Great (Again?)

"I am the greatest." - Muhammed Ali

"As human beings, greatness is not so much in being able to remake the world as in being able to remake ourselves." ~ Ghandi

"Greatness" is trendy today. In fact, it is possibly the most recognizable slogan in the United States nowadays. I find this puzzling at best.

In the year 2000, I became pastor of a church in Amsterdam. It just so happened that the church had recently won the coveted "Helix Award" given by the Dutch Evangelical Alliance for the "most successful church in The Netherlands." I was encouraged to attend a ceremony in which I would be given the award, which was in the form of a small trophy.

This accolade never set well with me. Was my church really the most successful in the country? How was that measured and what does it truly mean to be successful, or to be "great"?

Some years later I served as executive pastor in a church outside Denver. It drew people from a 50-mile radius every Sunday to hear the senior pastor preach (he was very good). The church had constructed a large building a few years earlier to accommodate the growing number of people attending on Sundays. The church was becoming "great."

Until it was no longer great, when the pastor was dismissed for alleged theological error (that is an entire other story, which I won't go into here).

I see several significant dangers in being the most successful, or in being great.

1. I call it the "Muhammed Ali Syndrome." Ali is famous for boasting that he was the greatest, presumably in boxing. His greatest was fleeting at best, as his health seriously deteriorated and he died a slow and painful death;
2. We can believe our own press and become complacent. We can coast, because the only direction is down and to lesser greatness;
3. We can become prideful and arrogant. Somehow greatness becomes equated with being better than others, or dominating them, and can lead to denigrating those who are not great.

What if we understood greatness in a fundamentally different way?

What if we framed our understanding and "striving" for greatness based on a completely other set of criteria?

1. The central, overarching criteria is the words of Jesus: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.” (Matthew 20:26-27). The following criteria provides explanation to Jesus' words;
2.  Greatness is always about the empowerment of the other, it is about giving power to another for the greater good of a cause or community;
3.  Greatness and humility are inseparable. One cannot be great and lack humility. If "pride comes before the fall" (which it does),  humility causes other people to be lifted up; 
4. Greatness deflects the spotlight and does not call attend to a person or organization that does genuinely great things. I know a foundation that is incredibly generous toward many good causes. Each and every time they issue a financial grant they insist that the recipient sign an agreement that the source of funds will not be made known to anyone. This is am aspect of greatness; 
5. Greatness and serving are inseparable. Often times, some form of suffering comes along with serving. The example that comes to mind is John McCain, who was a POW in Vietnam for 5 years after being injured when his plane was shot down. McCain was serving his country and he suffered greatly for it; 
6. Greatness requires fidelity.  Fidelity is about faithfulness and steadfastness. No one is great without fidelity. 
7. Greatness requires a Source other than self. A self-centered person (or Narcissistic person) can never be great. There must be a True North to which a person affixes his or her eyes to determine direction and how they will live and serve. For me, that True North is God most especially seen in the person of Jesus Christ. I believe he is the greatest expression of True North.

We live at a time when many public figures see themselves as "great men" (yes, the most high-profile of these people tend to be MEN). They are not great - at best they are shadows of greatness. The truly great ones don't see the spotlight; they serve behind the scenes in faithful ways, not calling attention to themselves.

Our communities need truly great ones now more than ever.