There was a time when I thought that all teachers were old. It was, of course a matter of perspective. My parents were actually a few years older than the minister at our church, but the minister wore a black robe for worship and from my perspective as a child, he seemed to be very old. Similarly, most of the Sunday School teachers in our church were actually relatively young, if you consider them from my current age, but at the time, I thought they were quite old. One of my grade school teachers, who I thought was a old woman, was still teaching thirty years after I went on to college, so she couldn’t have been that old when I was her student.

It is true, however, that I have learned a lot from my elders. Pastors who were older than I were wonderful mentors and guides in the early years of my ministry. One of my favorite and most influential seminary teachers was 71 when I began seminary and 74 when he moved from our seminary to teach at a school in California.

I was taught from an early age to honor my elders and our family always had a place of special respect for its seniors. My great Uncle Ted, uncle of my mother, was included in all of our family gatherings when I was a child. He was a bit of an inventor and could make all kinds of things out of surplus materials. We thought he was one of the smartest people we knew because he could make things with his hands that worked. He taught me how to cut, bend and rivet sheet metal. He made his own tools. He could sharpen knives and scissors and the blades of tools. He taught me how to use a whetstone and teamed up with my dad for instructions on how to use my first pocketknife.

We knew that we were to respect all of the elders in our town. The scoop at our house was that if you got in trouble with the neighbors or at school, you’d be in trouble when you got home. I guess I believed that all of the adults in my town got along with each other very well and that they were constantly in conversation with one another. Something that happened at school would be immediately known at home. We lived in a small town. For the most part this was true. Of course there were all kinds of small town politics, petty arguments, disagreements and other fractures in our community, but we were largely unaware of them when we were growing up.

But one does not stay a child forever. For much of my career, I was “too young” for many things. Because I concentrated my academic preparation into a few short years, I was seen as a “young minister” for all of my first decade in the ministry. Even though I had served as a licensed minister and completed two internships before graduation from seminary and had amassed more practical experience than typical, I was young in years and seen and treated as such by other pastors. I made the move to the senior minister position in a multiple-staff church at a younger age than some of my colleagues and was for some time considered to be young for my position.

Then, from my point of view, I went from being “too young” to “too old” in a very short amount of time without ever enjoying a period of being the right age. Of course what really happened to me was what happens to everyone. The years passed, my life experience increased, my hair turned gray and then white (what is left of it) and before too long I became the oldest minister in my circle of minister friends. These days in my lectionary bible study group I am the oldest, the longest-serving and the one who has lived in Rapid City the most years.

What I didn’t anticipate, which is a wonder and a joy, is that as my elders got older, retired and passed away I would have a new source of teachers. These days most of my teachers are younger than I. There is creativity and energy and enthusiasm and brilliance among those who are decades younger than I that inspires and instructs me.

I remember how excited my parents were in 1964 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize. Although he seemed old to me, Dr. King was younger than my parents and they saw his leadership as a sign of hope. President Kennedy, who had been just three years older than my dad, had been assassinated, but there were other young leaders. Still, from my point of view they were all elders.

Now the President of the United States is younger than I.

But there is a surge of incredible hope in the choice of this year’s Nobel Peace Price committee’s selection of Malala Yousafzai as one of this year’s recipients. She, along with co-laureate, Kailash Satyarthi, will receive her award from the committee in the presence of King Harald V of Norway and will deliver a Nobel lecture during the award ceremony.

Malala is 17 years old. That is the age I was when I left home for college. Malala, of course has had a lot more experience than I at that age. She is the survivor of a brutal shooting by the Taliban. She has moved from her home country of Pakistan to Great Britain. She is recognized as a writer, a teacher and a sought-after lecturer. I was none of the above at 17.

But it is absolutely thrilling to me to see a young person so recognized. It is a wonder that we can learn so much from those who are younger than us.

A long time ago, the prophet Isaiah envisioned a time of world peace and safety for all. His vision included a time when “The wolf will live with the lamb; the leopard will lie down with the young goat. The calf and the lion will graze together, and a little child will lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6)

We have a long journey on the road to peace.

We have been given some incredible leaders on that path.

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