A sermon by The Rev. Dr. David A. Marcus, Jr. on the occasion of our “Invite a Friend” Sunday (October 18, 2009) on the subject of being a mentor to others.
A sermon based on
James 1:19-25
Matthew 22:34-40
As a sports fan this time of the year is one of my favorites. College and Pro Football seasons are well underway. College Basketball kicks off in the middle of November and believe it or not, Major League Baseball is into its seventh month of their season. Baseball is now into their second round of postseason known as the League Championship Series. These winners will face off for the World Series which will begin on October 28th, the latest starting date in history. If the World Series were to extend to the full seven games, the World Series would end on November 5th. I’m not sure how enthusiastic I would be about the possibility of playing in New York or Philadelphia in early November!
Over the next couple of weeks as I watch baseball games on television, I realize I will be watching more TV than I usually do in a week’s time. According to the A.C. Nielsen Company, the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, a person will have spent 9 years watching TV. There have been over 4,000 studies examining the effects of TV on children. One study reported that the average elementary school aged child will have seen over 8,000 murders depicted in cartoons or television shows. Television, movies and video games are shaping the next generation of young people for better or worse. It seems as though mentors have disappeared from our society and have been replaced by fictional heroes.
We need people to step up and become mentors to our younger generations. Our society is such a mobile one that younger generations are often disconnected with older generations. Grandparents today often live hundreds of miles away from their grandchildren. We are raising a generation of children without grandparents and the number of single family homes continues to grow in our society.
If you remember the movie Forest Gump, Forest once said that life was like a box of chocolates and you never knew what you were going to get. I believe that life is more like a baseball diamond. On the baseball diamond like life itself you go into slumps. You strikeout, make errors at crucial moments, sometimes physical errors and sometimes mental ones. Some people give you a hard time when you fail. If you succeed in baseball the fundamentals of the game will have to be taught over and over again. When you learn those fundamentals, you can face the game head on, and handle the really tough situations. There will be moments when clear insight and determined perseverance will finally pay off. Just like life.
As I think back to my baseball playing days, there was no greater thrill than being on a baseball diamond taking part in all the action of a game. One of the great thrills in baseball which I did not experience often enough for my satisfaction was rounding all the bases on the diamond after hitting a home run. Rick Warren in his book The Purpose Driven Church describes the life of a Christian as a baseball diamond. First base represents our belief and membership in a church. Second base represents a growing maturity through Bible study, prayer and Sunday school involvement. Third base stands for ministry where we identify our gifts and use them to serve the church through our time, talents and treasure. Finally home plate is about missions and going out to fulfill the Great Commission and following the Great Commandment of Jesus which is:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
If we stop to think of our lives as Christians, too many of us are content to stay at first base where all we may do is come to worship. Some of us may advance to second base where we study our Bibles and become involved in Sunday school and fellowship opportunities. Others may advance to third base where we discover our gifts and really get involved in the ministry of the church. An even smaller percentage hit that home run. My hope is that as many of us as possible would round the bases of life and follow Jesus’ Greatest Commandment. One of the ways we can follow Jesus’ Greatest Commandment is by choosing to become a mentor for others. A brief look into Scripture shows us how important mentoring was in Biblical times. In the Old Testament we have accounts of Naomi mentoring Ruth, Samuel mentoring David who in turn mentored others. Jethro mentored Moses, who went on to mentor Joshua. We all know Paul mentored Timothy and even one of the primary missions of Jesus was to mentor His twelve disciples.
Our Scripture passage this morning from James speaks of how we can become doers of God’s Word. We all have challenging mountains to climb outside and inside the church. In the valleys, twists and turns of life, we need mentors who can help us climb our personal mountains and be there with us in the deepest valleys of our lives. In the first chapter of James, there is a progression in teaching that goes something like this. First, be quick to listen; then be slow to speak; next be slow to anger; and finally do what God’s word tells us to do. Doing the word of God is at the very center of the theology and practical teaching of James. How we go about this will vary from person to person but James encourages us to begin first with a self examination. James uses the imagery of looking into a mirror. As we look into the mirror of our spiritual lives, what do we see before us? Sometimes our spiritual lives can become stagnant when all we receive is the Word of God and we fail to translate what we have learned into action. For example, a lake can have the most beautiful spring water in the world flowing into its reservoir. But unless there are outlets, that beautiful water becomes stale and stagnant. This has often become a problem faced by Christians. Many Christians have become mere spectators who enjoy listening to the Word of God preached and taught Sunday after Sunday. Their minds are filled with Biblical knowledge and facts but they ignore translating that knowledge into active Christian living. I believe that one of the best ways we can avoid being merely pew sitters is to serve as a mentor.
I have had great experiences of serving as a mentor in my life. Perhaps my most rewarding experience was while serving as a student pastor in Seminary. There is a wonderful confirmation program called Making Disciples. This program pairs confirmation students with adult mentors and guides them through a variety of learning experiences that strengthened the student’s understanding of faith while connecting the person with their church community in a personal way. While serving Edgeboro Moravian as a student pastor, I was assigned to a young eighth grader named Tim to serve as his mentor as we worked through the lessons in this booklet. I will never forget one lesson where we discussed the role of saints in the church. The lesson taught that everyone who believed in Jesus Christ were saints. To emphasize this lesson the mentor and student were encouraged to visit someone who was elderly in the church. The lesson included a series of questions the confirmation student was to ask this person. One day we went and visited an elderly gentleman from the church battling cancer. He was in the hospital for an extended period of time undergoing chemotherapy. Not only did this man appreciate our visit but Tim gained a great insight into the history of the congregation he was preparing himself to join. Just a few weeks ago Tim’s uncle and aunt were worshipping with us at New Philadelphia visiting Winston Salem from Pennsylvania. Tim graduated from Purdue with honors and is now a captain in the Air Force, stationed in Arizona now flying the A-10 Warthog. He is married with a young son who is 15 months old.
In my office I have a gift that he gave me upon my graduation from Seminary that is entitled, “The Miracle of Friendship” and it best describes the rewards of not just friendship but mentoring: It reads:
There’s a miracle called
Friendship that dwells within
the heart, and you don’t know
how it happens or where it gets
its start. But the happiness it
brings you always gives a
special lift, and you realize
that Friendship is one of
God’s most precious gifts.
Mentoring which builds friendships indeed is one of God’s most precious gifts. Mentors are people who offer encouragement and who are good listeners. Often they are someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and who helped you see the world in a different light and gave you sound advice. Maybe your mentor was a grandparent, teacher, or colleague who helped mentor you. Bob Biehl in his book Mentoring writes:
Mentoring is a lifelong relationship, in which a mentor helps a protégé reach his or her God-given potential.
Mentoring is a great opportunity for older adults who have the time and the wisdom to share with a young person. I’ve heard recently that adults born in the years of 1925-1942 are becoming known in some circles as the Builder generation. This is the generation who although they didn’t live through the Great Depression heard about it often. This is the generation that saw America move from the farm to the city and then from a blue-collar economy to the information age. While they have seen this mind-boggling change, they can remember when life was simpler, slower, and more sensible. They helped build a great nation, and they can help build the next generation. Our congregation is filled with people who are part of the Builders, Baby Boomers (born 1943-1960) and Generation X (born 1961-1979) and now we are seeing our younger people maturing who are now part of what has been described as the Millennial Generation.
Simply offering a word of encouragement can make a huge difference in someone’s life. Returning back to my analogy of life as a baseball diamond, if you are to watch any of these remaining baseball games you might notice in the baseball stadiums of each team uniform numbers along the outfield wall. These uniform numbers have been retired, worn by a former player never to be worn again by another player. This is one of the highest honors for any athlete who plays a team sport. In baseball one uniform number has been retired by every club, the #42, representing Jackie Robinson, the first African American player in baseball. Breaking baseball’s color barrier, he faced jeering crowds in every stadium and even the wrath of his teammates on the Brooklyn Dodgers. The players on his team would often move to another table whenever he sat down next to them. During games opponents tried to hurt him with their spiked shoes. Pitchers aimed at his head. Death threats came from both individuals and the Ku Klux Klan. When teammates circulated a petition to throw Jackie out, they asked their famous shortstop Pee Wee Reese to sign the petition. Reese refused, saying, “He can play and he can help us win… that’s what counts.”
During one game in Cincinnati, the taunts and racial slurs seemed to reach a peak. In the midst of this growing hostility something amazing happened. Pee Wee Reese called timeout. Reese grew up in rural Kentucky so many members of his family and friends were at the stadium that day. He walked from his position at shortstop toward Robinson at second base, put his arm around Robinson’s shoulder, and stood there with him for what seemed like a long time. Together they faced the crowd which grew suddenly quiet. This gesture spoke more eloquently than the words: This man is my friend.
Jackie Robinson admitted later in life that this single gesture saved his career as he was considering quitting at that time. As this illustration shows, mentoring at its finest sees one person helping another to become more like Christ. As Christians we are blessed to have a great mentor in our lives, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is the mentor who will always be with us: As we think of mentoring let us remember these words from Jesus:
A student is not above his teacher; but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
Together let us round the bases of the Christian life and help mentor the next generation for service in God’s Kingdom.
Finis
The Rev. Dr. David A. Marcus, Jr.