Humility in Everyday Life
A few years ago, I participated in a clergy continuing education colloquium, the New York Sabbatical Institute, with pastoral colleagues throughout the nation. We gathered quarterly over the course of three years to learn best professional practices. “As iron sharpens iron,” we exchanged ideas, learning from each other’s mistakes and discussing possibilities for church growth. We considered myriad means for success and excellence in ministry. As a major component of our plenary sessions, we were led in formal Bible study by a Rabbi who had considerable professional achievement and personal respect within interfaith dialogue. This national gathering of clergy was ecumenical as it included at least fifteen different Christian denominations. Lecturers, staff and other participants included Protestants and Roman Catholics. Impressively, this Rabbi captures the attention of this diverse group of ambitious pastors with monumental visions for their ministries.
One morning, when teaching on the nineteenth chapter of 1 Kings and Elijah's formidable ego, the rabbi shared a personal story about the likelihood of clergy egos to expand unnecessarily when doing God's work. As he tells the story, he returned to New York City after attending high level conversations in Israel amongst the myriad branches of contemporary Judaism, the Israeli-Palestinian controversy, the Israeli and Arab cultural and political dissonance and Jewish and Catholic dialogue at the Vatican. Upon turning the key, unlocking the door and entering his apartment, his wife greets him by saying "I need you to take the trash out." Without having a chance to savor the recent professional summits he ascended, this spousal and familial request careened him back into reality. More significantly, it reminded him of the daily need for humility regardless of the heights of one's vocation.
A Hollywood celebrity shares advice he received from a mentor about handling success and fame. This wisdom was given to help the protégé enjoy long-term wealth and happiness with purpose, joy and peace. This rising star accepts these three activities as a foundation for maintaining humility each day. First, always take out the trash. Second, buy your groceries. Third, pick up your own dry cleaning. Average people cannot avoid these daily activities by paying someone else to perform them. As a person of notoriety and financial means complete these tasks, he appreciates his commonality with average persons who may directly or indirectly supply his lifestyle.
Mundane tasks in life keep leaders within the pull of gravity. Another leader jokingly shares how his mother begins their phone conversations by asking "Are your feet on the ground? I can't talk with you unless your feet are on the ground. I don’t talk with people whose feet are not on the ground." The celebrity's mentor's advice and this leader's mother's wisdom combine to exhort people with superlative achievements in the arts, entertainment, education, politics and other walks of life to remain in touch with the daily challenges and existence of people whom they serve.
Taking out the trash in New York City is a ritual which may require as many as seven containers to avoid a citation from the Department of Sanitation. Recycling is the law; it is not an option. However, a rigid protocol exists as it relates to how you eliminate waste. Newspapers, magazines and similar items are to be bundled together separate from card board boxes for pizza, paper towel rolls, and other dry goods. Glass is packaged in its own clear bag. Plastic which appears to have as many definitions as the millions of people recycling also require separate packing? Incredibly, milk cartons and similar pieces must be put in a different clear bag. Not surprisingly, the time and energy it consumes to discard the trash on a weekly basis is a most reliable ego-deflating experience. The teaching Rabbi for the New York Sabbatical Institute after meeting with the Pope and other major international religious leaders directly experienced this spiritual discipline. It is most interesting to think of taking out the garbage as a necessary spiritual discipline for clergy and celebrities.
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