Excerpt from 2 Kings 2:1-15a

“[Elisha] took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him…”

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

Everybody recognizes the importance of mentors on the job. The best mentoring relationships tend to be the intentional ones, where the older, wiser, seasoned person agrees explicitly to take some promising green young thing under her or his wing. Usually, not only the mentor and protégée profit; the organization or profession does as well.

Elisha followed Elijah around being mentored for years before he inherited the mantle of leadership. Presumably, the time he spent learning at Elijah’s knee made him a better prophet. Certainly he seemed able to wield his powers without mishap (well, with the hilarious dreadful exception of this incident).

What works for professional prophets ought to work for Christians. A colleague of mine requires any couple that gets married in her church to be paired up with a mentor couple that’s been married a long time and knows a thing or two about making it work.

Why not find yourself a church mentor? Look around your congregation. See somebody you want to be when you grow up? Somebody who seems to know a thing or two about the Christian life? Invite her out for coffee and ask if she’ll mentor you in being a Christian. She’ll probably say no the first time you ask, because she’ll be all modest and stuff…but keep asking, and you just might find yourself inheriting the mantle of a saint.

Prayer
God, send me mentors wise in the ways of life with you. And if by your grace someone asks me to show them the way one day, grant that I might say yes. Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

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