All of us are called to lead something.
Sometime in this new year 2025, leadership will come to you. It could be momentary or long term. Big or small. For pay or volunteer. At home, at work, at church. We may want to do it, or just pray we get through it. We may be thinking, “Here it comes at last!” or “I don’t have a clue.” What can we do, when our leadership moment comes?
Personally, I am reading two books for daily devotions this year. One is my standard source: “Bread for the Day: Daily Bible Readings and Prayers 2025” from Augsburg Fortress. I highly recommend it. For today, Friday, January 3, it offers Psalm 72, which in part says:
Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the king’s son;
that he may rule your people righteously and the poor with justice. (Ps 72:1-2)
This psalm is a prayer for good leadership. It makes me think of the good leaders of the past: including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, whose life we remember and celebrate and seek to emulate on January 20. And it makes me hope for the leaders who begin or resume leadership this month, including the new U.S. Presidential administration who take office on that same day, January 20. My hope is that all of us who lead, can lead by the ideals of Psalm 72 which goes on to say:
Psalm 72:4, 6-7
Let [them] defend the needy among the people,
rescue the poor, and crush the oppressor.
Let [them] come down like rain upon the mown field,
like showers that water the earth.
In [their] time may the righteous flourish;
and let there be an abundance of peace
till the moon shall be no more.
The entry ends with this prayer:
God our ruler, you are the one in whom we place our trust and to whom we are devoted. Grant wisdom and insight to all earthly leaders so they might become reflections of your love to the world. Amen.
This prayer is also for us: for me and you. For our leadership. Christ is not only present, fully behind us, and out ahead of us. Christ has called us to these moments of leadership. And by the grace and guidance and presence of the Spirit, we have what we need to lead.
WHICH LEADS ME to my second source of devotion for this new year. It is the newest North American edition of the book: “Moravian Daily Texts 2025.” This set of daily devotions has been compiled and shared by the Moravian Church every year for almost 300 years. And for all of us who are called to lead in 2025, here is their “Watchword for the Day” for January 3:
Has God not promised, and will [God] not do it?
Has [God] not spoken, and will [God] not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19)
Leaders are human. That includes all of us. We will make mistakes, and we will come up short. Folks we count on to lead us or lead with us will also sometimes fail us. We may even feel like we fail ourselves. But God forgives and God lifts up and God makes us righteous and redeemed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the light and life of Christ, we get up and we go. Because we stand with the best and brightest leader, who is also the Rock of our salvation, on whom we can always firmly stand. And so, I can lead you and bless you in your leadership with this prayer, that concludes the “Moravian Daily Texts” devotion for January 3, 2025 – let us pray:
Our Rock and Salvation, you fulfill your promises as surely as a house on a rock holds its foundation. You steady us, you lead us, and you provide for us. May we be a reflection of your love to all we encounter. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Serving Christ Together,
Bishop Christopher deForest (he/him)
Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
