Memorable Moments

Spare a thought for Claudio Ranieri - the recently sacked manager of Leicester City. Last season, a hero in a fairy tale that took his club to the Premiership title; this season presiding over a club threatened with relegation. If ever there was evidence that professional football is no longer a sport but a business, this is it. Leicester City FC plc is a failing business so a head must roll. No matter how successful you have been a mere matter of months ago.

Apart from that, there is an interesting observation to be made here about coaching and leadership. The same person, who can rescue an enterprise from obscurity and lead it to success, is not necessarily able to lead it to a sustainable future. A different skill set is required. The same might have been said of Winston Churchill, an heroic wartime leader, but rejected in time of peace.  It is also true that many clergy would prefer to lead a small struggling church than take over a large, successful one from a previous incumbent.

This Sunday, we suspend our series from We Make the Road by Walking, and use the readings for the Sunday before Lent. As it happens, the Gospel is the same as the one we took 2 weeks ago including the story of the Transfiguration. A memorable moment in the life of St Peter, on whom we are focussing during Lent and right up to Easter. Tomorrow, rather than reflect on the Gospel reading, we reflect rather on Peter's own testimony in 2 Peter 1.  Here, he describes that mountain top experience as a kind of preview of the glory which is to come when Jesus returns. He sees it as authenticating his own confession to the divinity of Christ. He sees it as a vindication of all that the Old Testament prophets taught.

So he encourages his readers to wait patiently, knowing that the Scriptures are trustworthy and that the Lord will indeed reappear and be manifested in glory, just as he remembered on the mountain. I guess that takes us back to Ranieri, and leading from success. Part of the challenge for leadership in any context is to hold a vision for what the future can look like; but if your best days are possibly behind you, what is there to look forward to?

This is why we need to see everything we do in the context of eternity. The best is always yet to be, however 'glorious' our days on earth may have been!