CURRENT EVENT – SEPTEMBER 26, 2010
Session Text: 2 Kings 2:1-14
Session title: Trusting God’s Future
A Grandfather’s Legacy
In a recent blog, Daniel Rouse, who teaches at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, tells of the influence his grandfather had on his decision to become a teacher. His grandfather had worked most of his life as a sharecropper in southern Indiana. He raised corn and pigs, read his Bible every day, and taught Sunday school at the local Baptist church. He built a tree house for his grandchildren, made apple cider every fall, and loved reciting poetry.
The one thing Daniel’s grandfather wanted to be was a teacher. In the 1920s he enrolled at Indiana University, the first member of his family to go to college. But by the end of his first year, he was back on the farm. Because of facial scars suffered from burns when he was a toddler, professors in the education department told him he couldn’t be a teacher because his face would frighten the children.
“I have been teaching for twenty-seven years,” Daniel says. “Hardly a day goes by when I don’t think of my grandfather. I recite some of the same poems to my second-graders that he recited to me. I grow flowers and enjoy apple cider. But most importantly I see his face. He didn’t scare me. He loved me. He was my Grandpapa and I loved him.”
What has Daniel learned from his grandfather’s experience? “I realize that I have a special responsibility to embrace difference among my students,” Daniel says, “and practice compassion as an essential part of my pedagogy…. But thanks to my grandfather, I pay especially close attention to the (children) on the margins.”
Daniel Rouse, “Why I Teach: My Grandfather’s Legacy,” Tolerance.org (19 February 2010)
Connection to the Lesson
Reflect on the important people from your life. Was there someone who left an indelible imprint? Perhaps it was a grandparent, or a teacher, a youth leader, a neighbor. All of us will leave a legacy of some kind when we pass on. We may not be able to choose everything that happens to us in life, but we can choose how we will respond. That, in turn, determines whether the legacy we leave behind will be positive or negative.
In the small church in which I grew up, there was a man whose mentally ill wife could be angrily disruptive in church meetings. Being married to her must have been hell on earth. Yet for a time he chose to lead the youth group of which I was a part. I was impressed with the fact that, despite his own hardship, he had a heart for young people.
Daniel’s grandfather was the victim of discrimination based on the way he looked. Both the scars and the discrimination were beyond his control. In spite of his disappointment, he determined to make a good life for his family. Ultimately, that led to a grandson who would become the teacher he was never able to be.
But he could just as easily have left a negative legacy. He could have become bitter and resentful, never letting anyone forget how he had been wronged. Instead of becoming a positive role model for his grandson, his cynicism could have influenced Daniel not to use his gifts as a teacher. And then there would have been two unhappy people.
“How my grandfather was treated caused him to doubt himself,” Daniel says. “He must have suffered when he realized that others were judging him for how he looked. His experience sensitized me to the suffering of others…. It is an educator’s job to provide a safe environment–to let every student follow his or her dream. And we must work together to help those dreams come true.”
Questions for Discussion
Think of a person who left you a positive legacy. How did that legacy help form who you are today?
Think of a person who left you a negative legacy. How have you been able to learn from that person’s mistakes?
As a Christian, what kind of legacy are you leaving for others?
Marilyn McGinnis teaches an adult Bible class at Glendale Presbyterian Church in Glendale, California, and other area churches. She is also a freelance writer of Bible study curriculum. Marilyn has an M.A. in religious education from Talbot Theological Seminary and an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary. She and her husband, George, have three grown children.
2 Kings 2:1-14
1 Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 3 The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.” 4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. 5 The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be silent.” 6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. 7 Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. 8 Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground. 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” 10 He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13 He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.