“Old Age is too Good a Gift to Waste”
Scripture Reading: Joshua 14:9-12
Sermon Transcript for September 4, 2005
By Dr. Bill Earley
I was thinking as Pastor Mike was giving us a word of encouragement that if the country needs anything, it needs the comforting stabilization of its older people who have gone through crises after crises in their lifetime and hung on because they knew God was still on the throne! We appreciate what Mike is doing here.
Those of you who have eyes capable of seeing and ears capable of hearing are aware that this is indeed a miracle age despite the catastrophes that are all around us. The beauty of our sanctuary, the comfort of our homes, the ease in which we travel, the marvels of our communication systems, the miracles of our medical community, the spiritual wisdom of our pastors and teachers—these things which we take for granted were beyond the most imaginative dreams of our great grandparents. My major in seminary was church history. We need not go very far back up the stream of human history to experience a world far different from what we experience here this morning. Less than 100 years ago a few of our local pastors (the smart ones) carried a gun in their hip pocket as they rode the back woods circuits. I enjoyed visiting with the elderly ministers of our district as a young pastor and hearing their stories of the country churches in the early 1900’s. According to them it was not unusual for the young men to bring their hound dogs into the church for the evening service. Why were the young men in church? It was the only show in town! When the pastor would get emotional in his sermons, as he often did, one of the young men would reach out and step on his dog’s tail to make it howl. It always added to the excitement. At other times when the sermon was long and boring, as they frequently were in those days, the young men would take turns stomping up and down the aisles in their hard metal boots on their way to and from the outhouse. Things are so different today. I don’t think there is a dog in the church.
And there is a quieter group sitting on the back pews this morning.
Some historians believe there have been as many changes since 1925 as all the centuries prior to that year. One of the most miraculous changes has been in the longevity of human life. Would you believe that the first conference on aging to be held in our nation’s capitol was in 1961? Why so late you may ask? Simply put, we had few older adults prior to 1950. Indeed, there have always been a few, but they were rare. The expected lifespan in 1900 was only 47. I suspect that over half the congregation this morning is over that age. When Social Security was established in 1936 the benefits were figured for those retiring at age 62—two years. And if you waited until you were 65—six months. My father drew benefits for a short 3 1/2 years. I retired at 64, seventeen years ago. See what’s happening? But as Paul Harvey was fond of saying, “The rest of the story remains to be told.” The real revolution is yet to become. By 2010 the number of those over 65 will outnumber children and youth under the age of 15. This is the year the baby boomers start reaching the age of 65 swelling the ranks of older adults to more than 70 million in America. And they will outnumber the children and youth in America under the age of 18. Already 80% of all the United Methodists are over the age of 40. And the average age of all United Methodists is now 57. Ten years longer than the average age of all people in 1900.
What in the world is God doing? Or is it politically correct to give God any credit in this new age? Why have we been given a longer life? Baby boomers can expect 30 years of retirement equal to the amount of time many spend in their careers. What will they do with all this time? Most tell me—nothing! They look forward to a time of leisure, travel, moving to a more pleasant climate. Warren Saunders, a wonderful, compassionate, second-career pastor who helped a small congregation in Carmel become one of the largest United Methodist congregations in Indiana, was encouraged by some younger members of the Cabinet to retire. They wanted to take over his pulpit. He told me, “For me to retire and follow a little white ball around a cow pasture in Florida would be the height of irresponsibility.”
Wouldn’t you agree? Wasting the second half of life would be a terrible thing to do. Yet, what are we doing to avoid it? We are willing to burn the midnight oil for twenty years or more preparing for a twenty-year career but do very little other than daydream our way into and through thirty years of retirement. Many older adults today think of themselves as being on the fast track with a plate that’s already full. Robert Schuler was a frequent speaker at ministerial conferences and he was fond of saying, “Making career plans one year at a time will accomplish very little. But to layout a plan for thirty years, one can accomplish so much more.” Knowing we have the possibility of several extra years, how should we plan the second half of life? Jesus tried to warn the people of His day to ask themselves if they were really going the right way on the fast track or was their plate filled with the right stuff. He referred to the Parable of the Rich Man whose land had produced abundantly. And the man asked himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.” Then he thought, “I will tear down my barns and I’ll build larger barns and there I will store all of my goods so I can say to myself, “Soul…” When was the last time you’ve ever said to yourself, “Soul”? He said, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry.” Regretfully much of our modern age philosophy suggests we store up a lot of durable goods and investments so we can enjoy what the Jewish people call the Sabbath years. Is that the way to really prepare for the Sabbath years?
My copy of the magazine from the American Association of Retire People last month, and I somehow dug it out here this past week, had a huge page ad for their 2005 Annual Conference to be held at the Big Easy. Well, the Big Easy, New Orleans, today—three or four weeks after I get this illustrious ad—lies in ruins under contaminated water and experts are wondering if it will ever be rebuilt. I have a friend who has been a successful North Conference pastor on the staff of one of the largest churches in the North Conference. His wife was a very effective and much loved first grade teacher. They have three bright, energetic sons. They were collectors of fine books, beautiful furniture. Purchased a marvelous retirement home and settled down for a life of ease raising flowers and traveling and gathering and collecting more fine books and more beautiful furniture. Then his wife developed dementia and had to be admitted to a facility for the mentally ill. The beautiful home and furniture had to be sold. And then his health began to fail. His younger son, a highly educated brilliant young man with above average income joined the gay community in San Francisco and was found dead from an overdose. My friend was not physically able even to attend his son’s funeral. He confessed to me that he was so unprepared for the way his life was ending. This was a minister of the gospel.
Jesus said the kind of dream the rich farmer was having brings death. Maybe not death according to our interpretation of death; but death in the sense of what John Wesley called “the undisciplined life”-- a life void of the right spirit. Yul Howell, in his book, How to Stay Younger While Growing Older, referred to this kind of death as self-imposed senility. The belief that senility can be brought on by ourselves is supported by medical and psychological studies. Dr. James Fulson, formerly of the Veteran’s Administration, said his experiences led him to believe that some people are born senile. He said these individuals never had an original thought. They don’t grab life. They let life grab them. An epitaph on a grave marker said it well: “Died at age 42; buried at age 62”. A twenty-year pity party! I know some people like that. Personally I prefer the motto of a favorite baseball hero, Yogi Berra. You probably all remember Yogi. And he had a fond saying—“It ain’t over till it’s over.” He has a record, I think, of pulling his team up from behind and winning games.
Spiritual saints of all ages have known this. I want to refer to a little clip from the life of Caleb, one of the spies Moses sent in to the Promise Land. We find this account in the book of Joshua in the 14th chapter. And Caleb is talking about his entry into the Promised Land as a spy but the people wouldn’t believe what he was trying to tell them when he came home. They let their hearts be weakened by the other voices. And he says, “Now behold the Lord has let me live just as He spoke these 45 years.” Over 40 years they wandered around in the wilderness because the people would not listen to God. But Caleb listened to God. And he says God has kept me alive these 45 years. “From the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses when Israel walked in the wilderness, and now behold I am 85 years old. I am still as young today as I was in the day Moses sent me. As my strength was then, so my strength is now for war, or for going out, or for coming in. Now then, give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day. For you heard on that day that the Anakin were there with great fortified cities. Perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will drive them out as the Lord has spoken.”
Think of that! It’s not a time for the older people. We’ve been called the greatest generation that ever lived, the people of my generation, because they’ve gone through world wars, they’ve gone through famine; they’ve gone through all sorts of catastrophes. And I think the present catastrophe we’ve got on the Gulf Coast is one for the older people. And a lot of the older people are rising up; they are ready to go; they are ready to empty their pockets; they are ready to invite people into their homes. They are ready to do a lot of things because God’s purpose for our lives does not end at middle age. Jesus did not attach the promise of abundant life to our age or health. Retirement is not a Biblical term. The Sports Writer’s Guild had a banquet to celebrate Casey Stengel’s 50th year in organized baseball. During the dinner speech the MC asked Casey to speak on the most exciting moment in his record setting career. And Casey replied, “I can’t; I ain’t had it yet.” Can you say that? I hope you can. Knowing that many of you will live until you are 90, 95, or perhaps some of you will live to be a hundred, and that it was always God’s plan for you to have an abundant life. And that the moment you go home to a life that is beyond human explanation, how then should you live?
May I suggest that a total new understanding about aging is needed? Many of the old myths must be challenged. Some of them may have been true when life expectancy was a mere 50 years old. And those who lived until they were 60 were considered ancient. And many of these myths are not true today when people who are 60 are in better health than their fore parents were at 40. Studies now indicate that one of the biggest troubles of aging come from living in a culture that primarily celebrates youth causing many to spend their final years looking backward. Old age is difficult. But so is all of life. It’s tough to be a teenager. It’s not easy to be a teenager’s parent, is it? And struggling to climb some imaginary success ladder is no picnic. Every decade of life is difficult. The 70 and 80’s are no different.
Fortunately we do not have to reinvent the wheel. Much has been done in the last 50 years to enhance the lives of older adults. We can even feel good that the South Indiana Conference and Grace United Methodist Church were at the front of this endeavor. When our conference woke up following WWII to the growing of our church and saw the pitiful facilities available for those unable to care for themselves, the conference leaders were inspired to build a state of the art retirement home. They now call it “The Community” because “Home” sounds like that’s where you stick old people. The pastor and Administrative Board of Grace pulled strings and emptied their pockets to secure land so it could be built here in Franklin. It became a model for people all over the country.
We must not, however, grow weary in well doing. Establishing a retirement community and health center is a good start; but it doesn’t complete the job. Life is not over, as Yogi says, until it’s over. Old age is too good a gift to waste. Fear of spending our last days in a dilapidated nursing home may have motivated us to design retirement centers, but it wasn’t enough. People wanted more. They wanted their lives to be enriched. Buses were purchased, trips were planned, elder hostels were established, and colleges opened their doors for special classes. We were having our lives enriched. But the peace and fulfillment were short-lived. It wasn’t enough and it isn’t enough. Older people are now convinced that there is more to life then a bread and breakfast. They are aware that the two great problems of older adults are health and finance. They are aware of that. But they also know that an even greater problem is a loss of a dream, the absence of a vision that have been created in the image of God. Boasting that we fought the good fight until we were 60 or 65 will not get us into what the writer of Hebrews called “God’s rest”. Technology and improvement in medical care has prolonged life and we need to give them credit. But we have failed to stimulate and utilize the creativity of persons over the age of 65. The intellectual and social environment has often been impoverished for and by the seniors.
Dr. Richard Pensler, Director of the Center on Aging and Older Adult Ministries for our General Board of Discipleship, quoting from his studies, challenges us to understand that old age is essential because it teaches us how to live as human beings were suppose to live. Old age teaches that as we grow older, we have the potential for wisdom and opportunities to encounter God in ways we never had when we were younger. During the first half of life, we are too busy building a career, establishing a home, raising our children. But during the second half of life, we have the opportunity to know what God really has in store for us and what our purpose in life is really all about.
Paul in his letter to the Church of Philippi wrote, “I’m confident of this, that the One that is the God who started the good work among us will bring it to completion prior to the day that Christ returns.” God never intended for older people to be put out on a pasture. The hand writing is on the wall. The church that fails to mobilize and utilize the wisdom of its older members is going to be left behind. The Scriptures, human experiences and recent studies all challenges us to rethink our belief about aging. This congregation is in a position to take a leading role in a ministry with older adults. We have rightly invested much and I’d like to underscore that. We have rightly invested much in our ministry with children and youth. We cannot now afford to let them wander away as they grow older like lost sheep following incorrect beliefs about old age. We must help our members, young and old alike, to understand and experience the Good News. God has a purpose for all of our lives from the cradle to the grave and we have to accept that purpose if we are going to grow old gracefully and effectively. I was with an old saint of the church, Frank Dent, as he lay in a hospital bed. And we were talking about the blessings of the Kingdom. And he became very joyful. The nurse came running in and said, “Mr. Dent, you’re going to have to calm down. You are a sick man.” Mr. Dent responded, “I am not sick; I’m dying. In a few hours I am going to see my Lord face to face. Now that is something to shout about!” And the nurse hurriedly left the room shaking her head.
Your life is not over until it’s over. God has a purpose for the last half. I challenge you—don’t waste your golden years. Let the people of the world shake their heads if they want to. Let them shake their heads if they don’t understand. We must follow the Lord all the days of our life. I want to invite you to join me for a discussion of the book by Dr. Richard Gisele, A Gospel for the Mature Years. It will be convening next Sunday in the Adult Education wing. It may just change the way you look at old age. I do not believe that any older adult needs to be left behind. God bless you as you think on these things. Amen.
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