A Legacy of Heirs: of Festschrift and Opus

Mentoring is all about reproducing "oneself" (although I'll come back to this idea in a minute to modify it in a key way) in mentorees.

Therefore, mentoring is all about people who become "heir" to who you are, what you know, and what you do. They are the recipients of the "wealth" of your knowledge and experience.

For mentors, their legacy is a legacy of people they have trained.

Len Sweet reminded me of the concept of "festschrift."  A festschrift is a special kind of book that is a collection of essays written by a variety of people - in honor of that person. In most cases, the authors who are included in the festschrift were former students of the one being written about and the essays being written are contributions to the field of study of which the mentor was a master. So the festschrift honors the master by the student paying tribute to master through excellence of academic thought in the essay. In my years of seminary study, I read many festschrifts and always enjoyed reading what the students had to say, not only about the field of expertise of the "master" but the personal thoughts about the one being honored.

In one way, the people in whom you invest become a living Festschrift of your life.

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Remember the old movie - Mr Holland's Opus, where the students of Mr Holland (over the many years) gathered togethered for a performance of Mr Holland's "opus?"  An opus is a creative piece of work, especially in music.  For years Mr. Holland had wanted to write and conduct his opus, but his investment in the lives of so many students kept working against that. It is time for his retirement and in one sense he believes he has failed. He has not produced a major work that was recognized by the music world. There is no musical opus.

Unknown to Mr. Holland, many of his students through the years have come together to perform that musical work he had  "mostly" written, but which was never produced. And one of his students says to him right before the performance,

"Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony, Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life."

I probably cry every time I hear that line. Mentoring is about the people who become the Opus of your life.

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Here is one final thought (and looping back to the first statement on this post).

For Christians, what we really want to see reproduced in the life of the student and mentoree, is the life of Christ. So in a messy and mysterious way, through the imprint of our own life and beliefs and values, we seek not to turn a person into a replica of our "self" but through our "self" to help them become the best and truest form of their own "self" which is being renewed into Christlikeness.

The world doesn't need more Brian Rices, but it does need more Christ-like followers and if Brian Rice can be an avenue and channel toward that end, that is a opus worth hearing and a festschrift worth reading.

Brian Rice