Ordinary Time 05: Vulnerable Leadership

1. Early in today’s sermon, Tim said, “God prefers vulnerability to credentials and strength.” 

Reflect on this idea. In what ways do you see this reflected in the world today? Do you see it at all? In what ways is it contrary to many of our world’s prevailing values? 

Where do you see the outcomes of the ways in which we’ve valued strength &/or credentials? What do you think would shift in our culture if we consistently valued vulnerability over credentials and strength?

What do you feel more drawn to in others or in communities? Are there certain settings in which you’re drawn to credentials? Strength? What about vulnerability?

Lastly, reflect on yourself. How often do you open up to, own, or embrace your own vulnerability? Is it a stretch to conceive of your own vulnerability as an asset? 

How often do you try to deny, hide, or obliterate your vulnerability altogether? What do you think the impacts might be for you personally or for the world around you if you were to prefer your own vulnerability to strength or credentials? 

2. From the sermon: “the cycle keeps repeating: tyrants & fools seize the power & exploit the people as the seeds of their own destruction grow quietly, reliably, among the very people - they’ve decided to exploit…and they never see it coming..” 

What thoughts or feelings rise to the surface in response to this idea? What does it elicit in you? 

What does it mean in 2026? How does it fit into the reality of your existence in the midst of the “unprecedented times” in which we live today? 

3. Tim shared the following words from Rich Mullins. Read them aloud. 

"They would have us see ourselves as products ... something to be made, something to be used, and then something to be disposed of; used in their wars, used for their gains, and then set aside when we get in their way. 

Well, who are they? They are the few who sit at the top of the heap-dung heap though it is-and who say it is better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven.

Well, I do not know that we can have a heaven here on earth, but I am sure we need not have a Hell either. 

What does it mean to be human? I cannot help but believe that it means we are spiritual, that we are responsible, and that we are free ... that we are responsible to be free." 

What jumps out to you or resonates most? 

What do you think this last paragraph means? 

In what ways are we the “they” that’s referenced here? In what ways or settings do we dehumanize, objectify, commodify, and use others? 

What are the takeaways for you in this discussion?