Perhaps the most appropriate passage for religious leadership in all of Scripture can be found in Exodus 3: the burning bush story.  We know how it goes.  GOD reveals the divine name and identity to Moses and gives him instructions.  It is one of the most iconic moments in the Judeao-Christian shared story. It is truly beautiful and momentous and mysterious.  It also gives us the most revealing truth about leadership: none of us wants it.

GOD gives Moses his instructions and Moses not only rejects them, but he tries to argue that GOD has picked the wrong brother—that GOD must have meant Aaron, the priest.  In my own retelling of the story, I imagine GOD getting pretty cheesed at Moses: “How many times do I have to say this to you, Moses!  I actually do mean you.  When are you going to get it through your skull!”

I think we can all appreciate Moses’ reluctance to go along with this arrangement.  He was insecure, the road was burdensome.  And his brother was the one who signed up for the work, wasn’t he?  One of my best friends reminds me when I’m ignoring GOD’s calling “No, GOD; you must mean my brother, Aaron.”  And every time he says it, I instantly get it.  I am rejecting GOD’s call.

But what I find most interesting is that the example of these two brothers is truly intriguing for us spiritually.  When we read throughout the Torah, Moses and Aaron actually work as a singular leadership team.  It is when they go their own ways that they get in trouble with GOD.  But they do represent separate ministries: Moses is the spiritual leader and Aaron is the priest.  Moses receives the call from GOD and his wisdom helps the people through the Exodus and to the Promised Land.  Aaron is the ritualist and keeper of sacramental relationship through worship.

It seems that our gravest sin is that we put two jobs in one body.  Today, we expect our priests and pastors to be both Moses and Aaron.  We expect truly transformative leadership and adherence to sacramental traditions.  Leader and liturgist.

The rise of mutual ministry (or total ministry) seems to be an interesting synchronicity with this issue.  In mutual ministry, a team of people are ordained to separate liturgical functions and shared leadership of a congregation: one preaches, one consecrates, one provides pastoral care, etc.  It is a way of doing ministry that can transform the nature of how we do church, and certainly seems consistent with the example of Moses and Aaron.

I wonder what it would mean for us if we were to recognize this leadership model for ourselves?  How might this change the way we do church locally?