Sermon Illustrations on Elderly

Do Not Cast Me Off In the Time of Old Age: the Challenge of the Aged, Part 2

Ruth 4:15

In the January 2006 edition of COMMENTARY, bioethicists Eric Cohen and Leon R. Kass offer a compelling essay on the challenge represented by millions of the aged among us. In “Cast Me Not Off in Old Age,” they warn that we are now witnessing the development of a “mass geriatric society” which will present this country with massive economic, social, medical, political, and ethical challenges.

Recognizing that, many Americans argue that there must be some better way to confront these challenges, and all too many appear willing to redefine human dignity in terms of quality of life, autonomous choice, and the competing interests of generations.

Indeed, some are ready to argue for a “duty to die” that assumes a responsibility for the elderly to get out of the way. Far more are ready to assume that the death of the elderly is at least preferable to long-term debility and decline. Both of these assumptions run into direct conflict with the Christian worldview and the Bible's teachings regarding reverence for life and respect for the aged. Confronting these assumptions will require Christian courage as well as keen Christian thinking. This challenge will not wait.

In light of these challenges, Cohen and Kass suggest two false “solutions” that may appeal today to Americans who take opposing sides on these issues.

First, the authors dismiss the argument that the problems of old age can simply be solved by medical technology. They cite Dr. Mark B. McClellan, the top official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who claimed last July that “Medicare can do so much more than give you dignity in old age.” Dr. McClellan claimed that Medicare can actually extend life, improve health, and save money by preventing and curing the diseases of old age.

Cohen and Kass dismiss this as “the medical gospel of healthy aging.” While accepting that persons can do much to make themselves healthier and to extend active and vigorous life, Cohen and Kass understand that life itself, even with medical treatments, involves limitations. It is foolish, they suggest, “to act and speak as if medical progress (whether in prevention or in cure) will liberate us from the realities of decline, debility, and death or from the unavoidable duties of caregiving at the end of life.” The authors insist that the paradox in modern aging is this: WE ARE VIGOROUS LONGER AND WE ARE INCAPACITATED LONGER.

Most tellingly, Cohen and Kass criticize much of the propaganda about old age now commonly advertised in our society. “Finally,” they note, “there is something weird about treating old age as a time of life when things should always be 'getting better.’ While aging affords some people new possibilities for learning and 'growth,' it also means -- eventually and inevitably -- the loss of one's vital powers. Some people may ride horses or climb mountains into their seventies and eighties, just like in the commercials for anti-arthritis medication, but such idealized images offer a partial and misleading picture of the realities of senescence, that series of small dyings on the way to death.”

The second “solution” Cohen and Kass rightly dismiss is the “legal gospel of the living will.” Returning to the case of Terri Schiavo, Cohen and Kass lament the fact that the significance of this tragedy for so many Americans was, as so many in the media insisted, the moral lesson that one should always have a written living will or “advance directive” to guide medical decisions once one is no longer in a capacity to speak for oneself.

With keen insight, Cohen and Kass point to the worldview of individual autonomy as the driving force behind the development of living wills and the current confidence in these documents as the “solution” to difficult issues at the end of life.

In the first place, Cohen and Kass recognize that living wills simply do not live up to their reputation. The documents are often legally unsustainable, and medical personnel are often unaware of such documents or unable to make decisions that are in any sense clearly based upon the desires of the patient who framed the document. They cite a study that indicated that decisions made by surrogates using living wills “were no more likely to reflect the patient's prior wishes than decisions made by family members judging on their own.”

Most important, Cohen and Kass understand that the inevitable bottom-line issue is the dignity of human life. While our society holds a general consensus concerning equal human worth when it comes to the healthy, Cohen and Kass argue that “this general agreement regarding equal human worth can disappear in some cases.” Specifically, “Although many continue to believe that every human life, regardless of debility, possesses equal dignity, others now argue openly that equal treatment for all is best advanced by not diverting precious resources to the severely disabled. Still others believe that the indignities of old age -- especially dementia -- belie all sanctimonious talk of 'equal worth.'“

In the end, Cohen and Kass argue for Americans to understand that there are better and worse ways to understand the challenge of aging. The worldview of personal autonomy corrupts the question by placing moral confidence in the real or perceived intentions of the patient, generally without regard to the larger moral context or to enduring moral principles.

As they argue, “The better way begins in thinking of ourselves less as wholly autonomous individuals than as members of families; in relinquishing our mistaken belief that medicine can miraculously liberate our loved ones or ourselves from debility and decline, and instead taking up our role as caregivers; and in abjuring the fantasy that we can control the manner and the hour of our dying, learning instead to accept death in its proper season as mortal beings are replaced and renewed by the generations that followed.”

This is a statement of moral insight that is deeply based in a biblical worldview and in an understanding of human dignity that is rooted in something larger than individual autonomy. The Christian worldview adds the absolute affirmation of human dignity at all stages of life, and in all conditions of life, whether young or old. Furthermore, the Christian worldview insists upon the respect due the aged as honored members of the family and of the larger society.

Without doubt, the rise of the “mass geriatric society” described by Cohen and Kass will present all Americans with a dramatic series of challenges. The church faces an even greater challenge -- to develop a theology of aging that is deeply rooted in the riches of Scripture and is directly relevant to the real-life challenges of growing old. Inevitably, a genuinely Christian vision of aging and the aged will represent a counter-thrust against the spirit of the age.

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This is part two of a two-part series.

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[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

The Faith of Barzillai

2 Samuel 17

Sermon on old age:

"THE FAITH OF BARZILLAI" 2 Samuel 17, 19

I. What can we do for God when we are old?

II. How Barzillai served God.

A. King David had problems in his family.

B. Absalom was the first to rebel.

C. Barzillai met David and provided for him.

III. Barzillai knew his place with God.

A. When the tide turned in David's favor, Barzillai met him as

B. Barzillai, 80 years old, declined due to age. 19:35

C. Where Barzillai wanted to be. 19:37

IV. Where is our place in God's world?

A. Like Barzillai, we may be feeling the ravages of age.

B. But like him, we can also help others who are lost on their way.

C. Rooted in Jesus Christ, we can be content where we are.

Honoring Parents

Once there was a little old man. His eyes blinked and his hands trembled; when he ate he clattered the silverware distressingly, missed his mouth with the spoon as often as not, and dribbled a bit of his food on the tablecloth. Now he lived with his married son, having nowhere else to live, and his son's wife didn't like the arrangement.

"I can't have this," she said. "It interferes with my right to happiness." So she and her husband took the old man gently but firmly by the arm and led him to the corner of the kitchen. There they set him on a stool and gave him his food in an earthenware bowl. From then on he always ate in the corner, blinking at the table with wistful eyes.

One day his hands trembled rather more than usual, and the earthenware bowl fell and broke.

"If you are a pig," said the daughter-in-law, "you must eat out of a trough." So they made him a little wooden trough, and he got his meals in that.

These people had a four-year-old son of whom they were very fond. One evening the young man noticed his boy playing intently with some bits of wood and asked what he was doing.

"I'm making a trough," he said, smiling up for approval, "to feed you and Mamma out of when I get big."

The man and his wife looked at each other for a while and didn't say anything. Then they cried a little. Then they went to the corner and took the old man by the arm and led him back to the table. They sat him in a comfortable chair and gave him his food on a plate, and from then on nobody ever scolded when he clattered or spilled or broke things.

One of Grimm's fairy tales, this anecdote has the crudity of the old, simple days. But perhaps crudity is what we need to illustrate the naked and crude point of the fifth commandment: honor your parents, lest your children dishonor you. Or, in other words, a society that destroys the family destroys itself.

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Illustrations For Preaching & Teaching

Editor Craig Brian Larson, Baker Books, pp. 170-171.

#1873

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"What About the Old Folks?"

Job 32:4

Sermon in Family Series, (also Advent), on aging and the elderly.

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WHAT ABOUT THE OLD FOLKS?

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I. Is Christmas only for the young?

II. We have very limited expectations about old age.

A. We don't look forward to getting old.

B. Even churches express this mindset.

C. Instances occur in OT as well. 1 Kg 12:6-14; Job 32:4-10; Ps 71:9

III. Bible usually presents old age in a bright light.

A. Bible is full of old people, with usual infirmities.

1) David can't get warm in own bed.

2) Isaac unable to tell his sons apart by sight or touch.

B. Old age is treated as a blessing. Gen 25:8; Lev 19:32; 1 Pet 5:5

IV. Rather than diminishing us, age can bring us to deeper spirituality.

A. Old age teaches that life is not doing things.

B. Old age is about stripping away the lies to reveal truth.

V. Age gives us opportunities for service.

A. Serving the elderly.

B. The elderly can serve.

1) They have time...experience...knowledge.

2) Why aren't the opportunities forthcoming?

3) Fruit can still come forth in old age. Psalm 92:14-15

#2382

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An Influential Sunday School Teacher

John 13:13

Howard Hendricks, who has taught Christian education at Dallas Theological Seminary for over forty years, has told about an experience he had at a Sunday school convention:

A number of us who were speaking there went across the street at noon to get a bit to eat at a hamburger stand. The place was crowded and people were standing in line. An elderly lady was in front of me. I guessed she was about 65 - she was 83, I learned later. She wore a convention badge, so I knew she was a conferee. There was a table for four open, so two friends and I invited her to join us. I asked her the obvious question: "Do you teach a Sunday School class?"

"Oh, I certainly do," she said.

I visualized a class of senior citizens, but asked her, "What age group do you teach?"

"I teach a class of junior high boys."

"Junior high boys! How many boys do you have?"

"Thirteen," she said sweetly.

"Tremendous! I suppose you come from a rather large church."

"No, sir, it's very small," she said. "We have about fifty-five in Sunday School."

Hardly daring to go on, I said, "What brings you to this Sunday School convention?"

"I'm on a pension - my husband died a number of years ago," she replied, "and, frankly, this is the first time a convention has come close enough to my home so I could afford to attend. I bought a Greyhound ticket and rode all last night to get here this morning and attend two workshops. I want to learn something that will make me a better teacher."

Hendricks went on to add, "I heard a sequel to this story some time later. A doctor told me there are 84 young men in or moving toward the Christian ministry as a result of this woman's influence."

#2676

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Why So Many Old People Are Stupid

Leviticus 19:32

“Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.”

In Japan, seniority is a big deal. If someone is even a few years older, you are supposed to address him respectfully. That never jibed with me when I was living in Japan. Do we automatically become respectable as we get older? I didn’t think so, but whenever I mentioned this to adults, they would always tell me that I would understand it someday when I too am older. Well, I’m older now (37), and I can tell you that so far I haven’t been proven wrong. I am beginning to be convinced that those adults were full of it.

Have you ever wondered why so many seniors are stupid? Have you ever wondered why most people cannot relate to their parents when describing what they do in their lives? People often say, “But my parents would never understand that.” This becomes especially problematic when the topic is highly cultural like art, philosophy, and science. If you think about it logically, why should this be the case? If your father is 60 years old and if you are 30, you would think he would be twice as wise and knowledgeable as you are, but this is rarely the case. Even if I am not qualified to judge people older than I am, I can tell you that among the people of my own age, some of them are already getting dumber than they were before.

The most common explanation is that, as you get older, it becomes harder to learn new things. Well, nice excuse. Even though it is very rare, I do meet septuagenarians who are literally twice as wise and knowledgeable as I am. They are usually people who pursue something other than their jobs.

It appears that while some people progressively become wiser and more knowledgeable, the vast majority of others become progressively dumber. The gap between them must be huge. For those who kept improving themselves, the rest of the people of their own age must appear completely foreign to them, like talking to teenagers. So, why does this happen? And, when does this start happening? I think it starts happening in our 30s. Why it happens is a more complicated story.

In our 20s, we are all idealistic. There is nothing wrong with idealism, except that, in our 20s, we are idealistic and naive at the same time. In other words, our heads are running far ahead of our emotions. We can deal well with logical problems in our lives, but more complex emotional problems are beyond our abilities. This starts to flip in our 30s. As we start to lose our logical abilities, our emotions continue to mature, but the problem is that emotional maturity devoid of logical intelligence is no better than having a big head and a small heart. On top of losing logical abilities, we also lose physical abilities too; so the odds are against us. Furthermore, if you have a problem with substance abuse like alcoholism, it would hinder even your emotional maturity. So, all three components start to deteriorate. If you keep going in that direction for 30 years, the result is an utterly dumb, boring senior citizen.

In order to prevent this from happening, we must make a conscious effort to keep our minds and bodies in best shape possible. Our emotions will keep on maturing as long as we face our lives courageously. Even though our logical and physical abilities are diminishing, as we become wiser, we become much more efficient in learning. We no longer make obvious mistakes, and nothing we learn is entirely new. Our knowledge from other areas can expedite our learning process. These advantages can easily make up for the disadvantages, and it becomes possible to actually be twice as wise and knowledgeable as a 30 year old when we turn 60.

When I was in 7th grade, my math teacher answered an obvious but difficult question: Why do we have to study advanced math, if we are never going to use it in our adult lives? He said it’s because the same parts of our brains used for math can be used for many other things in life. With this short explanation, he utterly convinced me the importance of studying math, and of any other subjects for that matter.

The same logic still applies in our old age. Any connections in our brains left unused will eventually fall apart. Seemingly unrelated and irrelevant subjects like calculus could reinforce these unused connections. The science shows that the connections we frequently use can stay strong all our lives, and the aspects of our intelligence that use those parts of our brains could stay razor-sharp even in our old age.

But all this still does not explain why some choose to improve themselves while others let it all go downhill. I actually have no answer for that. All I can tell you is that, in our 30s, we all seem to come to some conclusions about what life is. Having reached our physical and logical heights of our lives in our late 20s, we can now see the entire mountain in perspective. We can even see the other side of that mountain (senior homes in Florida). This understanding of life is unspeakable and different for everyone. Some then decide that life is about comfort. They strive only to have a good life, eat good food, travel to exotic places, have happy relationships, live in comfortable houses, etc. They maintain only the parts of their brains that are necessary to improve their comfort levels, that is, the skills required for their jobs.

Others decide that there is more to life than being comfortable. They realize that a higher understanding of life is always possible, that there is in fact more to that mountain than what we see in perspective. The meaning of life, for these people, becomes sheer curiosity about life. I already see people around me taking these two separate paths. The longer the time passes, the more difficult it becomes to relate to those who took the other path, but we meet more new people along the way, who happen to come across your path from entirely different directions.

Now I see why those adults insisted that older people are respectable. Being concerned only with comfort, they just gave me an answer that would make them more comfortable.

Outliving Your Family

Psalms 71:18

Sermon in Family series. Old age. 2 Sam 19:31-39

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OUTLIVING YOUR FAMILY

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I. We aren't getting any younger.

II. Older is not always better.

A. Health.

B. Independence and finances.

C. Loneliness.

D. Loss of faith.

III. The best is yet to be.

A. Prosperity. 2 Sam 19:32

B. Hard-won wisdom. 2 Sam 19:37

C. Spiritual maturity. Psalm 71:18

D. Love and time.

IV. Make room for the elderly.

A. Do not forget the old.

B. Broaden your family.

V. We are never too old to grow.

A. Make new relationships as old ones fade, pass on.

B. Do something new. Psalm 92:14-15

C. Grow in the faith.

D. Endings mean more than beginnings.

#3792

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The Silver Cord

Final sermon in Ecclesiastes series. Death and old age. Eccl 12:1-14

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THE SILVER CORD

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I. How long do you want to live?

II. What it is like to grow old.

A. An experiment.

B. An allegory of decreptitude.

III. What we have to look forward to.

IV. Going to the eternal home. 11:5

A. Grave in view, not heavenly mansion here.

B. The dust of death. 11:7

C. Death should filter our passions. 11:6

D. It's all meaningless - apart from faith.

V. The conclusion of the matter. 12:13-14

A. To obey God is to be truly human.

B. The secret is not in morality or knowledge but in trust in God.

#4041

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A Senior Citizen's Lament

Mark 5:26

A SENIOR CITIZEN'S LAMENT

Thought I'd let my doctor check me

'Cause I didn't feel quite right.

All those aches and pains annoyed me,

And I couldn't sleep at night.

He could find no real disorder,

but he wouldn't let it rest.

What with Medicare and Blue Cross

it wouldn't hurt to do some tests.

To the hospital he sent me

though I didn't feel that bad.

He arranged for them to give me

every test that could be had.

I was fluoroscoped and cystoscoped,

my aging frame displayed,

Stripped upon an ice-cold table

while my gizzards were X-rayed.

I was checked for worms and parasites,

for fungus and the crud,

While they pierced me with long needles

taking samples of my blood.

Doctors came to check me over,

probed and pushed and poked around,

And to make sure I was living,

they wired me for sound.

They have finally concluded

(their results have filled a page)

What I have will someday kill me:

my affliction is OLD AGE.

#4265

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Just One Wish

Fox River gave life to the country town of Colby Point, for the road and the river ran alongside one another. Colby Point was really the name of a road that crept between the hills and valleys of McHenry, Illinois. Homes were scattered here and there -- mostly summer homes and retirement homes. At the very end of the road three houses all faced one another. Three sisters -- all single, all seniors -- lived in one of the homes. Across the way their widowed first cousin lived in a yellow house. Next to her lived their brother, Bill, and his wife, Cleo.

Cleo had multiple sclerosis, so the pair had moved to Colby Point seeking a quiet, relaxed life. Little did they know when they relocated to this serene area that they would end up rearing their granddaughter, Margie. Before long, the once-quiet neighborhood became active with the sounds of a child.

Margie always looked forward to the arrival of Christmas, and this year was no different as winter began to settle like a warm blanket around Colby Point. Everyone was in a flurry, for at the church Margie and her family attended, the congregation was preparing to share their Christmas wishes with each other. Since Cleo couldn't make it to church, and Bill didn't like to leave her alone for too long, he was in the habit of dropping Margie off at church early on Sunday mornings; the aunts would bring her home.

As Margie sat in church that morning, she rehearsed in her mind over and over what she would say. She wasn't afraid, for she knew what an important wish this was. The service seemed to drag on and on. Finally the pastor uttered the words Margie had been anticipating all morning, "This is a special time of year when everyone around the world celebrates peace and goodwill toward our fellow man. This year, here at St. John's, we want to hear your Christmas wishes. We cannot fill everyone's wish, but we would like to try and fill a few. As I call your name, please come forward and tell us about your Christmas wish."

One after another, the church members shared their wishes, large and small. Margie was the last and the youngest to speak. As she looked out at the congregation, she spoke confidently, "I would like for my grandma to have church. She cannot walk, and she and my grandpa have to stay at home. They miss coming so much. So that is what I wish for. And please don't tell them, for it needs to be a surprise."

Riding home with her aunts, Margie could tell they were speaking in low tones about her wish. She hoped that they would keep her secret. As the next Sunday came around, Margie was getting ready for church when Grandma asked, "Why are you so fidgety? You haven't sat still all morning."

"I just know that something wonderful is going to happen today!"

"Of course it will," said her grandma with a chuckle. "It's almost Christmas, you know."

Grandpa was getting on his coat when he happened to look out the front window. He saw some cars coming down the dirt road one after another. Now at this time of year there wasn't too much traffic, so this was really amazing. Margie pushed her grandma to the window so that she could see all the cars. Pretty soon the cars were parked all up and down the road as far as a person could see.

Grandpa looked at Grandma, and they both looked at Margie. Grandpa asked, "Just what did you wish for, Margie?"

"I wished that you and Grandma could have church. And I just knew that it would come true. Look! There's the pastor, and everyone from church is coming up the walk."

The congregation arrived with coffee and cookies and cups and gifts. They sang Christmas carols and listened to the pastor speak on giving to others the gifts that God gives. Later that night, Margie slipped out the back door and walked outside to look up at the stars. "Thank you," she whispered, "thank you for giving me my wish."

That was just one of the many wishes granted for Margie as she grew up. Her childhood overflowed with the love of her grandparents, four great aunts and many wise, caring neighbors. Margie was truly a blessed little girl.

I should know -- I was that little girl.

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What We Know

The old believe everything;

the middle aged suspect everything;

the young know everything.

Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)

Writer

Cited in BITS & PIECES

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Your Skin As A Modern Corporation

“...and suddenly it hits you: Human skin is actually made up of billions of tiny units of protoplasm, called “cells”! And what is even more interesting, the ones on the outside are all dying! This is a fact. Your skin is like an aggressive modern corporation, where the older veteran cells, who have finally worked their way to the top and obtained offices with nice views, are constantly being shoved out the window head first, without so much as a pension plan, by younger hotshot cells moving up from below.”

-- Dave Barry

Crick's Brave New World

Job 3:20

Sir Francis Crick, decoder of DNA, in a lecture entitled “The Sociological Ramifications of Biology” before University College:

“Because of the population explosion in the face of diminishing resources, we have no recourse from the following steps:

A. We cannot continue to regard all human life as sacred. The idea that every person has a soul and that his life must be saved at all costs should not be allowed. Instead, the status of birth and death should be reconsidered.

B. If, for example, a child were considered to be legally born when two days old, it could be examined to see whether it was an 'acceptable member of human society'.

C. It might also be desirable to define a person as legally dead when he is past the age of 80 or 85, and then expensive medical equipment should be forbidden to him; old people might also be required to distribute a certain proportion of their property.

D. It is not right that religious instruction should be given to young children. Instead they should be taught the modern scientific view of man's place in the universe, in the world and in society, and the nature of scientific truth.

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from Nature 220, Nov.1968, pp 429-430

Remarks By Daniel Auber

A friend of the French composer Daniel Francois Auber once remarked to him, "My friend, we're all getting older, aren't we?"

Auber sighed, "Well there's no help for it. Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long time." Auber was so determined to live a long time that he refused to think about death, and whenever he was reminded of its approach he would say, "I'll pay no attention to it." But in his old age the composer began to accommodate himself to the idea of his mortality. At a funeral service which he was compelled to attend, Auber remarked to one of his fellow mourners, "I believe this is the last time I'll take part as an amateur."

Accomplishments of the Elderly

Grandma Moses painted at age 100. George Bernard Shaw wrote plays at 93. Albert Schweitzer ran a hospital in Africa at 89. Respect age and live every day until you die.

Dallas Times Herald, 8 July, 1991, A-2

And Now, They Are Old

Acts 2:44

My Source: SEIBLES ROAD BULLETIN

January 30, 2000

Author: Joyce Baker

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AND NOW, THEY ARE OLD

by Joyce Baker

They are the ones who used to sit way down toward the front. They were always involved in whatever programs the elders had thought appropriate for this church. Some even bought bonds to build this place of worship.

They came to your children's weddings, and brought fine gifts; and when the babies started to come, they bought useful items to lessen the financial strain a bit.

They sat with your sick for hours at the hospital, while you went home to refresh yourselves. Then, when your loved one came home, they took large casseroles and pots of food so that you could give your attention to the patient, and finally grab a little rest for yourself.

They called regularly to check with your needy families to see how they could lighten their load. They bought clothing, baby formula, furniture, or simply gave them money to buy what they needed.

They went to your family funerals--even when they were out of town, sometimes.

They sent cards and notes... oh, lots and lots of notes! Notes of sympathy, notes to wish you well, notes to encourage visitors to make this church their church home, and of course, cheerful birthday greetings.

They cleaned your house when you "threw your back out," or had a long recuperative period after surgery. They washed or cut your hair, when your illness prevented you from getting out. They brought you to THEIR house and cared for you when you had no one at home to help.

They groggily answered the phone at 3:00 a.m., but were more than willing to jump out of bed and scurry over to your house in the cold winter night to stay with your children--Daddy had to get Mommy to the hospital with those fast-occurring labor pains!

They took your children for an evening occasionally, and sometimes overnight, to give you a chance to concentrate on each other for a change, and because they enjoyed getting to know the YOUTH of the church.

They sacrificed their Saturdays, many times, doing repairs... or painting... or cleaning and organizing at the church building. No one but God knew they were there. They bought toys for the nursery, items for the kitchen: flowers, a tablecloth, whatever was needed. They left them when no one was looking.

They called when they didn't see you at worship, to see what was wrong, AND if they could help in some way.

They sent your children (away at college) little checks from time to time, so that they could eat a nice meal out, instead of cold pizza, or yet another can of Campbell's soup.

They gave separate checks, from their regular offerings, for the missionaries, orphan homes, and other charitable endeavors the church supported, to lighten the dip into the church funds.

They took in foster children until they could be adopted--sometimes even adopting one themselves.

Oh, yes, they were HAPPY to do these things, but it was their duty to do so. Our Lord commanded it! (Read the Scriptures listed at the end of this article.)

And now, THEY ARE OLD! They are as bound and confined to their home, almost as if they were shackled to it. It takes all the effort they can summon, and help from others, just to get to their doctor appointments.

They watch their mailbox as intensely as a hawk watching for prey. It doesn't have to be a long letter, just a little card with a note, such as, "We miss you, and you are always in our prayers. You are not forgotten by the church you love so much!" would be the highlight of their day. (They'll read it time and time again.) And, oh! If you could just go and sit with them now and then! They WAIT for a visit--anyone... a couple... several together; just a few minutes on your way home from work or church would be so welcome. You don't have to bring anything. Though if you do--like a home-cooked meal once in awhile, or homemade cards your children have fashioned all by themselves, or church bulletins or a joke book that you are willing to read to them (their eyesight is failing so!)--you've no idea HOW MUCH they appreciate it!!

They'll think about and talk about your visit for days. For this is their highpoint until someone else comes, and that might be days, or even weeks.

They UNDERSTAND that it may not be too pleasant for you, for it reminds you that you too, may one day be old, and your health may not be what you always envisioned for yourself in your twilight years. They understand that you don't know what to say or do when they cry, or tell you they love you, or get their tears all over you. And they know that they don't always smell too fresh, and are embarrassed by it. (They are dependent on others to bathe them, which is usually only once, or, if they're fortunate, twice a week.)

You don't have to make conversation if you don't want to; just be a good listener. They're so happy just to have a genuine, live person right there in the room with them who cared enough actually to come! But, how they do love it if you will describe everything that's going on in the church now: the programs, who's now married and having a baby, and how their old friends are faring... dear old friends THEIR age! Are they still able to attend the services? Or, are they, too, homebound? Do they have more grandchildren, or even great-grandchildren, now? They yearn for news of them. For this they miss most of all: the fellowship with their brothers and sisters in Christ, and the special communion that one has with the Lord when they assemble together with those of this common bond and love. No Lord's Day is ever the same when they are unable to attend this union of worship.

For them, the next best thing is to have you drop by Sunday afternoon to let them know that you still consider them part of the family, even though they're unable to join you. If you only have time to spare a few moments... well, you know where you'll find them, and you've made their day! They'll love you for it, and the Lord will bless you for it!

It was a promise from Him, long ago!!

Please read these Scriptures: Matthew 5:7; Matthew 7:12; Matthew 25:40; Romans 12:10, Romans 12:13, Romans 12:15; James 1:27; ;James 2:16; Acts 2:44-45; Acts 4:32; 1 John 3:17-18, 1 John 3:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10; 1 Peter 3:8; 2 Peter 1:7-8; John 15:12-14; Psalms 133:1; Deuteronomy 15:7-11; Deuteronomy 24:14.

What's My Name?

Two elderly men recognized each other in a shopping mall and began talking. One finally said, "Forgive me, I'm sorry, but I can't remember your name."

The other man looked a little bewildered, and asked, "How soon do you need to know?"

_______

Source: Bill's Punch Line, http://www.tcmr.com/billspunchline.html

There Has To Be Another Option

John 6:37

They called him "Pops" around the Butte County, California, jail. However, his real name was Coval Russell. He was 92 years old and serving 14 months for trying to kill his 70-year-old landlord over a petty dispute. The report in The Los Angeles Times [July 11, 2002] claimed his year in jail was the best year of his nine-decades-long life; evidently, Russell had few positive life encounters prior to incarceration.

Yet, jailers and inmates alike befriended their senior citizen neighbor. His new family tried to make the tall, lanky Oklahoma native as comfortable as possible; they provided an extra mattress, first spot in the chow line, extra television time, even additional outside calls for medications (he had prostrate cancer). The younger men considered themselves his grandkids.

Upon serving his term, Russell petitioned the judge to be allowed to remain in jail. He told the jurist the people in jail treated him with more respect than those on the outside. "They treat me like a human being in there," he supposedly said. His appeal was rejected.

As a result, the distraught man told friends he had but two options - either to violate his parole in order to return to jail or to take him own life. On Wednesday, 11 July 2002, Coval Russell, the WWII veteran, who risked his life for his fellow Americans, jumped from a bridge over the Feather River, to his death.

People - family, friends, and neighbors - who should have and could have given him a third option, didn’t; people who had little to give and little power to give at all, gave all they had. They gave him what they thought he needed but missed the mark by a light-year.

What Coval Russell really wanted and needed was hope, and hope is what a man gets when he has a right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He was abandoned and disrespected by a callused and indifferent world. Christ, the lover of his soul, would never abandon him and would give him all the respect a man could imagine.

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Source/Attribution: John Gillmartin; SIEW

One More Mission

Joshua 14:10

It was Yogi Berra who gave us that unforgettable wisdom of the ages - "It ain't over 'till it's over." I'll tell you one man who believes that: John Glenn. Yes, he had become an American hero in 1962 with his historic, manned, orbital flight around the earth. And, oh yes, he had gone on to become a United States Senator. That should be enough for one lifetime, right? Especially at the ripe old age of 78. But not for John Glenn. Nope! At an age when some people are just coasting to the finish line, John Glenn went back into space! It was just amazing to see him be part of the crew of the Shuttle Discovery, blasting into space with crewmen half his age. What a hero! At a time when a lot of people think all their important missions are behind them, John Glenn was still flying them!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One More Mission."

As I watched John Glenn heading for one more mission at the age of 78, I thought to myself, "We need some spiritual John Glenns - some seasoned men and women who will take on new missions for Jesus Christ until God takes them home!"

That's the kind of warrior Caleb was, as exhibited in our word for today from the Word of God. We're in Joshua 14:10-12. Caleb is now 85 years old. At the age of 40 he had been one of the 12 spies sent by Moses to scout out the Promised Land. Ten of those spies told the Jews it would be suicide to go in against those giants and those walled cities, but Caleb and Joshua stood alone, encouraging God's people to claim God's promise and take the land. As a result of the unbelief of his comrades and his nation, Caleb got to wander in the wilderness for the next 40 years until every unbelieving adult had died off.

Now, four decades later, God's people are taking that land. And Caleb's planning a sweet retirement, right? Wrong! He tells Joshua, "Now then, just as the Lord promised, He has kept me alive for 45 years ... while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, 85 years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites (those were giants) were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as He said."

Now here's a guy who could have said - like too many of God's veterans say - "Well, I've fought my battles. I've been hurt by people's bad decisions. It's my time to rest." But, like an ancient John Glenn, Caleb says, "Give me that mountain! Bring on those giants! I've still got more battles to fight and win!"

Maybe you're the veteran of a lot of years or at least a lot of battles fought for the Lord. You've got the wrinkles, you've got the scars to prove it. It could be you've been going into sort of a cruise mode, thinking, "I've served enough." There's no such thing. If we live to be 200, we'll run out of time to serve the Savior who laid down His life for us - to the last drop of His blood! In the words of Ecclesiastes 8:8, "There is no discharge in time of war." And since the battle for lives rages until Jesus comes, none of us gets a discharge!

My Dad believed "It ain't over 'til it's over." Even when he was in the hospital, awaiting the last surgery - the heart surgery that would ultimately claim his life - he led his roommate to Christ! He lived as if there was always one more mission! That's how God is calling you to live!

Be a spiritual John Glenn. Be a Caleb! Go out fighting. Go out doing everything in your power to take someone else to heaven with you. No matter where you are, no matter what your limitations, Jesus can still touch and transform lives through you. There is no time for self-pity or criticizing or passivity. There's still too much to do for Christ! No matter how many battles you've fought, no matter how many scars, how many struggles - or how many birthdays - until you see Jesus, there is always one more mission!

________________

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An Old Lady's Poem

Ruth 4:15

When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Dundee, Scotland, it was felt that she had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through her meager possessions, they found this poem.

Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Ireland. The old lady's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the North Ireland Association for Mental Health.

... AN OLD LADY'S POEM

What do you see, nurses, what do you see?

What are you thinking when you're looking at me?

A crabby old woman, not very wise,

Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles her food and makes no reply

When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try!"

Who seems not to notice the things that you do,

And forever is losing a stocking or shoe...

Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,

With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill...

Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,

As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.

I'm a small child of ten... with a father and mother,

Brothers and sisters, who love one another.

A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,

Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.

A bride soon at twenty -- my heart gives a leap,

Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.

At twenty-five now, I have young of my own,

Who need me to guide and a secure happy home.

A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast,

Bound to each other with ties that should last.

At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,

But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.

At fifty once more, babies play round my knee,

Again we know children, my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;

I look at the future, I shudder with dread.

For my young are all rearing young of their own,

And I think of the years and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old woman... and nature is cruel;

'Tis jest to make old age look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart,

There is now a stone where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,

And now and again my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys, I remember the pain,

And I'm loving and living life over again.

I think of the years... all too few, gone too fast,

And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,

Not a crabby old woman; look closer... see ME!!

Senior Secrets

Psalms 71:1

Senior Secrets

Read: Psalm 71:1-16

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. --Psalm 92:13

Gerontologist Donald Murphy says that people over 65 who feel good and have no symptoms of illness may be spending too much time in doctors' offices. If seniors are feeling healthy, according to Dr. Murphy, they'll benefit more from exercising and enjoying life than from expensive and time-consuming health screens.

Here are some of his tips for staying healthy in old age:

Pray and reach out to others. These do more to lower health risks than reducing cholesterol or taking other medical options.

Spend time with friends.

Share your talents with someone less fortunate. Volunteers are less likely to be depressed.

That's helpful advice. But as believers we have this wonderful promise from the Lord: "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the Lord is upright" (Ps. 92:13-14).

To be among the fellowship of those who are "fresh and flourishing," I need to cultivate my relationship with the Lord and keep telling others about Him. What a great plan for seniors--and for those of any age! --DCM

O God, don't let my heart grow cold

As time flies by and I grow old,

For souls are dying, lost in sin;

Help me in love to bring them in. --Anon.

A fruitful life is a happy life.

Never Too Old

Joshua 14:10

“... So here I [Caleb] am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said” - Joshua 14:10-12 (NIV).

Emerson produced English Traits when he was 53 and Conduct of Life at 59.

Kent wrote his Anthropology, “Metaphysics of Ethics, and Strife of the Faculties” at age 74.

Oliver Wendell Holmes at 79 wrote Over the Teacups.

Victor Hugo wrote Les Miserables at 62.

Booth Tarkington wrote sixteen novels after age 60, some of them when he was totally blind.

George Bernard Shaw wrote some of his famous plays at 80.

Scott the commentator began study of Hebrew at 87.

Jules Verne was writing his stories at 63.

Croce the Italian philosopher published two of his works on philosophy at age 85.

Santayana, the great Harvard philosopher, continued to write books at 88 years of age.

Tennyson at 83 wrote “Crossing the Bar.”

And Webster wrote his monumental dictionary at 70.¹

In God's economy we are never too old to serve God and to be a part of God's plans and what he is doing in the world today... even if we are sick and infirm, we can still be mighty prayer warriors. All we need to do is make ourselves available.

__________

Source: Cited in Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations by Paul Lee Tan, http://www.tanbible.com/bok/bok_KE.htm

Submitted by Dave Holloway

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[Original illustration at this number was added to HolwickID #5264]

Achievements of Old Age

Job 12:12

"It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment; in these qualities old age is usually not only not poorer, but it is even richer."

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 B.C.)

Orator, statesman and writer

Cited in BITS & PIECES

The Season of Harvest

Ruth 4:15

"For the unlearned, old age is winter. For the learned, it is the season of the harvest."

Hasidic Saying

Cited in BITS & PIECES

Where Have All the Children Gone?: the Dangers of Anti-natalism

In her novel, THE CHILDREN OF MEN, P.D. James describes a world in which no children have been born for several decades. As you would expect, the disappearance of children has profound cultural, political, and psychological effects on humanity.

Well, it turns out the British author's opus may not have been so fanciful, after all. And while James never told her readers who was responsible for humanity's predicament, in real life the reasons are a lot clearer.

For several decades, the political and scientific elites have been telling us that human overpopulation is responsible for much of the misery in the world -- poverty, disease, underdevelopment. They've told us that a 250 percent increase in the world's population during the last century was an environmental disaster, as well.

Thus, "stabilizing" the rate of population growth has been a top priority worldwide for these cultural elites. And, according to the latest figures, it's working. While global population is still growing, it's expected to peak by the middle of this century, and then decline indefinitely.

Nearly half of the countries of the world, eighty-three in all, are no longer reproducing at a rate that will maintain their present population -- what demographers call their "replacement level." Europe and Japan have such low birth rates that, absent unprecedented levels of immigration, they will lose significant amounts of their population within this century.

Even areas whose fertility rates are currently at replacement levels, like Africa and the Middle East, are in the midst of a steep decline in reproduction. The result is what Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute calls a "baby bust."

Even if the consequences of today's baby bust may not be as dramatic as the one in P.D. James's novel, it should concern us. Fewer births means fewer workers and lower productivity. It means an aging population, with fewer young people to take care of them and pay the taxes that support their retirement benefits.

Eberstadt argues that the baby bust isn't just a threat to prosperity, it threatens to disrupt political and social structures, and even "set back the progress of human development."

As often happens, this setback is self-inflicted. It's the product of a worldview that, instead of seeing children as blessings to be cared for, sees them as liabilities and burdens to be minimized. This view, called "anti-natalism," views pregnancy and childbirth as obstacles to material and social well-being. Progress is impossible, so it's said, unless women are set free from the burdens imposed by childbirth.

If this sounds familiar, it's because this is the same worldview that animates the abortion rights movement. Every time someone talks about giving women control over their bodies they're saying that child- bearing is what stands between a woman and her full potential.

Well, as Eberstadt reminds us, we ought to be careful what we wish for. For more than eighty years, intellectuals have been pushing the anti-natalist agenda. Now we're about to discover the hidden costs it brings.

It's a price we all have to pay, so I hope you'll listen over the next few days as I tell you more about it. Christians, in particular, need to know that ideas have consequences -- especially bad ones.

For further reading:

Eberstadt, Nicholas, "The Population Implosion," Foreign Policy Magazine, March-April 2001. [Also see further resources linked at the end of the article.]

Specter, Michael. "Population Implosion Worries a Graying Europe." The New York Times, July 10, 1998.

The Acton Institute's population resource page.

_________________________

What They Seem

It is not unusual to look at an elderly person and only see a body wracked with arthritis, or listen to a senior citizen and hear one crippled with Alzheimer disease. When we do, it is easy to discount their worth to our society or ignore their comments. Sometimes, we do, but sometimes we can be wrong.

I heard the story tonight at church of an eighty-nine-year old woman in a nursing home. The last months of her life she told every visitor who came to see her that she needed a new dress to wear to a wedding she was going to. Considering her age and the nursing home she was in, everyone dismissed this need as though she was having delusions caused by senility. They kept telling her, “Aunt Ida, you are a patient in this nursing home. You don’t need a new dress. You are not going to a wedding.”

Not too many months thereafter, Aunt Ida realized she was not going to get a new dress to wear to a wedding, so she stopped asking. Not long after that she died.

During the funeral visitation, when friends and relatives gathered to review her life, testimony after testimony told about her faith in God. Since childhood, she had lived the Christian life and walked the Christian walk with her Savior and her God. With these testimonies, suddenly it became evidently clear she knew she was about to die, but she also knew she was going to wedding in Heaven to be married to her Savior the Lord Jesus.

Things and people may not always be what they seem. The senile may be more sensible than we think, and the arthritic may be more upright than it would appear.

The Oldest Worker In America

A man billed as the world's oldest worker is calling it quits.

Ray Crist, a retired scientist who started teaching at Messiah College near Harrisburg in 1970, put down his pointer Tuesday at age 104. Crist, though, has no plans to rest on his laurels. Instead, he'll keep up with his research and academic papers, the latest of which sets out to explain how plants absorb toxic metals and thereby clean the soil.

“When you have a mission, you go after it,” said Crist, who worked on the Manhattan Project. “And I am still going after it.”

Two years ago, at age 102, Crist was named America's oldest worker by a nonprofit training group called Experience Works. He started at Messiah at age 70, after a career in science and a decade teaching at Dickinson University. In his 34 years at Messiah, he took only a token salary of $1 a year.

Crist was born in central Pennsylvania, just a few miles from the land where Messiah would be built. His grandfather was a Union soldier in the Civil War, and his father a farmer and auctioneer. In 1926, he earned a doctorate in chemistry from Columbia University.

__________

Source: Peninsula Daily News, April 15, 2004, http://peninsuladailynews.com

[He died in 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Crist]

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[Original illustration here was a duplicate in HolwickID 25837-26027]

The Senioritis Vaccine

Jeremiah 29:5

I've watched three kids run on this track called high school senior. Oh, and we know about the disease. It's a creepy disease called “Senioritis.” I've seen it for years in other teenagers and then finally, we watched it in our own home. It begins with the sense of “Okay, I'm a Senior now, high school is my past. I do not care about high school anymore, even though I have another year.” At best, a senior just slacks off until graduation, or at worst, he or she becomes irresponsible and maybe even destructive. Senioritis does not bring out the best in anybody, at any age.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Senioritis Vaccine.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Jeremiah chapter 29. The Jews are no longer in their homeland of Judah. They've been carried away into captivity. They're in Babylon. Here's a situation where it would be very easy for them to have spiritual “Senioritis.” They know they are one day return to their native country. They know God has them in Babylon for their disobedience, so they live kind of in between - you know, Babylon here, returning to Israel soon. They could be saying, “Hey, who cares about Babylon. Put it on cruise control. We're not here for long. We're going home in a little while What we do here doesn't matter. Right?”

Here's God's advice for them in Jeremiah 29:5 - probably surprising advice for them. “Build houses, and settle down...” I can hear them going “Here? We're living in between.” He says, “Build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons. Give your daughters in marriage so they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you will prosper.” Here's what God is saying. “Make something of this time. Don't have 'senioritis' and act like it doesn't matter.” It's like old Caleb in the Old Testament - 85 years old and not ready to quit. He says, “Lord, give me this mountain to conquer.” There's no “senioritis” there.

Maybe you're at an age, or you're in a situation where you're tempted to put your life sort of on cruise. Maybe you're waiting for the next stage, or you're just waiting for heaven. Don't just sit there and say, “Well, I don't care much about where I am right now.” God is saying, “I want you to care. I want you to bloom where you're planted. I want you to make this count.”

A while back, I met a dear 80-year-old woman, and she said to me, “Ron, I was married to the same man for 60 years, and he took great care of me.” And then she went on to tell me how he had died last year. And she said, “It is so easy for me to be bitter. I could be desperately lonely.” But then she said, “You know, this week as I have listened to you at this conference, I've decided I'm going to reach out on my own. I'm in this condominium filed with lonely people and I'm going to go back there, and I'm going to start writing notes to those people. I'm going to bake for them. I'm going to visit them. I'm going to share God's love with them.” Then she said, “I'm going to start giving my life away.”

And I said, “Well, you know, that's the way the Bible says you'll find your life.” She said, “Well, I figure that my mother died at the age of 88, and I'm 80, so I've got at least eight years to make a difference.” I love that! She's going to find her life by giving it away. That's the vaccine for “senioritis,” for not caring. Get a mission for yourself. Look for some people who need you. That's the best way to find your life. Wherever you are, look for a mission. Don't slow down. Don't hold back. Capture the corner that you're in for Christ. When you're living for Jesus, you can't afford to waste a day.

________

Research Dispels Myth of the Old and Grumpy

Grumpy old men and women may not be so grumpy after all. Two new studies report that older people are better at getting along with others than younger people are, and much more content in their interpersonal relationships.

In one study, the researchers conducted lengthy interviews with 184 people ages 13 to 99 to determine how they solved interpersonal problems. Even after controlling for factors like sex and health, they found that the adults who were older than 80 were more likely to avoid conflict by waiting until things improved, while the younger people more often chose to leave in anger or engage in yelling and name-calling.

The older people, the researchers found, had fewer interpersonal difficulties to begin with, and when problems arose, they experienced less negative emotion and behaved less aggressively. The study appears in the May issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences.

The second study, scheduled for publication in the June issue of Psychology and Aging, involved more than 1,000 people ages 25 to 74 who completed eight successive days of phone interviews, a technique that the authors believe produces more reliable recollections.

The results were similar: people 60 and older were better at regulating their reactions to interpersonal tension than younger adults, even with similar intensity and frequency of stressful situations.

“Although people often think of older adults as ornery, they're actually nicer when they have problems in their relationships,” said Dr. Kira S. Birditt, a research fellow at the University of Michigan and the lead author on the two studies. “When they do feel upset, they're more likely to wait to see if things improve than to yell or argue.”

It is widely believed that men and women often respond differently to interpersonal stress - men by withdrawing and women by insisting on a solution. And some research confirms this premise.

But the two studies found no such variation between the sexes.

Moreover, Dr. Birditt pointed out that older adults of both sexes appeared to be better at handling conflict not only with family but with co-workers, neighbors and acquaintances.

“The type of relationship didn't matter,” she said. “Older people are just better at it.”

And while confronting issues openly is often viewed as the best way to handle interpersonal problems, older adults often avoid this approach.

“It may be that avoiding problems is good for relationships,” Dr. Birditt said. “Particularly if it's a personality issue, something unlikely to change, it may be helpful to just ignore it.”

The researchers point to several limitations of their study.

They concede that having people report on their actions or feelings can bias the findings because people may only report what is socially acceptable.

They also mention that older adults may remember the past more favorably than younger people.

In addition, the results may be influenced by the fact that constructive strategies may have survival value, and that people who use destructive strategies either do not stay together or do not live as long as those who find ways to get along.

“Over all,” Dr. Birditt concluded, “older people are experiencing less anger and less stress, and using less aggressive strategies when they have problems in their relationships.

“It might be that relationships get better as we age.”

Abused, Neglected and Forgotten

Exodus 20:12

In recent weeks, “NBC Nightly News” has begun a series of reports entitled “Trading Places: Caring for your Parents.” The series began with the personal stories of NBC reporters like Brian Williams, Tim Russert and Ann Curry, each of whom is dealing with an increasingly common question: What should I do with my aging parents? Baby boomers are beginning to experience sleepless nights as they worry about their mothers and fathers, and legislators should start to worry, too. The fact is that eldercare is already a national problem, and soon will become a national crisis.

The plight of elderly Americans is a top concern for the Center for a Just Society because this population is at significant risk of abuse and neglect. In my law practice, I have spent decades representing elderly men and women who have endured unspeakable nursing home abuse and neglect. Avoidable pressure ulcers, falls, fractures, infections, malnutrition, dehydration -- all are common problems among the institutionalized elderly.

Short staffing characterizes the operation of too many nursing homes, and many corporate predators operating facilities put profits over people and revenue over residents. The care of the institutionalized elderly is becoming a national disgrace. If these conditions prevailed at Abu Ghraib or in our nation’s daycare centers, members of both parties would be foaming at the mouth, calling for reform. However, because the abused and neglected victims are elderly and frequently “out of sight,” the problem is all too often ignored.

As I have written in the past, three factors will soon place aging Americans at even greater risk in long-term care facilities. Those factors are demographic, economic, and cultural.

DEMOGRAPHICS

In the next 30 years, the number of Americans over the age of 65 is expected to double. More specifically, there will be an 83 percent increase in the number of men and women between the ages of 65-74. There will be a 119 percent increase in those aged 75-84, and there will be a whopping 143 percent increase in people older than 85. A majority of these men and women will require long-term care. Because most Americans are having fewer children, there will be far fewer young people around to take care of the older generation. Therefore, the demand for institutional care will rise sharply. Today there are 16.5 million people living in nursing homes; by the year 2035 that number is expected to double.

ECONOMICS

America is on the threshold of a national crisis when it comes to its old age social assistance programs. In its first year, Medicare had a budget of $1 billion. According to the most recent budget, the cost is now $394 billion. Likewise, the budget for Medicaid has gone from $1 billion in its first year to its current $276 billion annually. With the graying of America, these budgets will only grow larger in the coming years. All of this leads to the year 2018, when Medicare will likely run out of money. This will be far more than an economic crisis; it will be a human crisis. When government funds dry up, what will happen to millions of dependent elderly Americans?

CULTURAL

In addition to the “age wave” and the economic shortfall, there are also cultural changes in America that will put the elderly at increased risk. As we have discussed in many other contexts, our culture is shifting from a “sanctity of life” to a “quality of life” ethic. Increasingly, we are calculating the net worth of human beings based on cost-benefit ratios and quality-of-life calculus. The elderly -- who cost more to maintain than they produce, and whose functional capacities have deteriorated because of old age or illness -- do not score well under these standards. In the next 20 or 30 years, when the elderly are taking up valuable resources and are no longer deemed “useful,” one shudders to imagine what “solutions” might be devised to deal with the growing problem of eldercare.

For a multifaceted crisis, we will need a multifaceted solution. First and foremost, however, Christians should start seeing eldercare as one of the great moral problems of our generation. Sometimes it is easy to think of Medicare reform as an economic problem and abortion and marriage as moral problems. However, more often than not, economic problems have real social impact. Christians should start working to convince the culture that the elderly -- no matter how disabled or helpless -- are fully human and entitled to be treated with dignity and respect. Our elders should have the same rights as everyone else. They ought not be victims of a sliding scale of dignity that erodes their protection as their faculties diminish. We need to be prepared to uphold the rights of the elderly as vigorously as we uphold the rights of the unborn.

The Bible is quite clear on this point. Of course, we already know that we are called to honor our mother and father (Exodus 20:12). As Scripture says, children and grandchildren “should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God” (1 Timothy 5:4). The Apostle Paul is quite adamant: “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).

Christians must not ignore the needs of our frail elders. Surely they are to be counted among the “least of these” to whom we owe a duty of care and concern (Matthew 25:40). Paul declares, “Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity” (1 Timothy 5:1-2). While our first priority may be to our immediate family, we should treat all older men and women as fathers and mothers.

Translating this into the public sphere, Christians should be at the forefront of ensuring justice for the infirm and the elderly. We should be in the vanguard of making and enforcing laws that protect the dignity of older men and women, especially those who are languishing in long-term care facilities. The pro-life movement has done an incredible job establishing pregnancy care centers across the country to help women with crisis pregnancies. In a similar way, Christians should start thinking about how they might create an infrastructure to help protect the elderly in the coming years. It is our duty as Christians -- and as citizens -- who were nurtured and cared for by those who now need our help.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #22239]

Making Evangelism Good News Again

John 6:5

I believe that one of the most important qualifications for an evangelist is to love to eat. And in that sense, I am highly qualified.

Now, I’m not referring to my friends and comrades, the vocational evangelists. They have a vital calling. But I believe all of us are called to be evangelists –- and eating is one of our best tools. Remember my definition of evangelism that I have shared in a previous article: Evangelism is sharing good news with friends. And there’s nothing better than a great meal with a friend to open up spiritual conversations.

Recently, I ate with my friend Ed. That meal reminded me of why I believe that there is nothing more exciting, fulfilling and just plain fun than evangelism. Ed is 81 years old. He is a wonderful man but had never accepted Christ and had not been in a church in decades. Ed’s son is a friend of mine and introduced me to his dad.

Ed and I built a friendship based on great lunches and a lot of talk about politics and World War II. Every conversation was fascinating to me. But I longed to share with Ed the most wonderful part of my life -– the good news of Jesus. Ed would never have come to hear me preach. And Ed wasn’t interested in Jesus until it was clear that I was interested in Ed. But real friends can talk about important things.

And so in between bites of a big salad, I was able to share Jesus with Ed one day. He thought about that a lot and a few months later, at that same restaurant, I almost spit out my mouthful of Diet Coke when Ed said, “So, what do I have to do to be saved?” And after lunch, sitting in his car, Ed accepted Christ!

Do you know what it is like to call a friend and tell him that his father had just become his brother? I’ll never forget it. They now read the Bible together every morning.

Soon after Ed was saved, we got together and talked about spiritual growth. It just doesn’t get much better than that. And while I enjoyed the food at the Village Cafe in Fayetteville, Georgia, I thought about all the friends that I had met here, all the wonderful people who worked there who I had the privilege of knowing and praying for over the years.

As we rose to leave, I saw a friend who works there that I had not talked to in a long time. He’s not sure he believes in God, but he knows I care about him. So we agreed to meet again soon to talk about Jesus -– and eat of course! And then I stopped at two tables where dear friends were sitting -– friends who have also poured their lives into the joy of loving those Jesus loves. As I finally walked out, I felt that I was leaving church. It felt that wonderful.

And isn’t that what the word “church” means anyway -– “called out” and not “called in”? So why not answer God’s call “out” today? Take someone out to eat. Someone different from you. Someone who needs a friend. Maybe you will find that you needed a friend too. And that friendship might change someone’s life –- and eternity. And then they might want the fellowship of the church you love so much. And then you might watch through tear-filled eyes as they follow the Lord in baptism one day.

How would it change your day tomorrow if you knew that a simple meal might do all that? You could live your day in the same wonder as a little boy who watched Jesus take his food and multiply it to feed thousands. Sound good? Let’s make evangelism good news again.

Euthanasia In the Big Easy: What A Drag It Is Growing Old

It turns out that many of the most horrific stories we heard about New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina weren't true. But there's one nightmarish story that may turn out to be an exception — a story that should cause anyone who plans on growing old to lose some sleep.

Following Katrina, stories began to circulate about the goings on at Memorial Hospital. These stories depicted an overwhelmed and increasingly desperate staff repeatedly discussing the unthinkable: “euthanizing patients they thought might not survive the ordeal.”

Fran Butler, a nurse manager at Memorial, told CNN that her “nurses wanted to know what was the plan.” Were they supposed to put people out of their misery? Dr. Bryant King has told authorities about similar discussions among doctors, adding that he thinks that the matter went beyond mere talk.

These allegations have prompted Louisiana's Attorney General to open an investigation into what happened at Memorial Hospital. Were the sick euthanized? While I hope the allegations prove false, I know that the issues they raise are not going away.

That's because of three undeniable facts: First, our population is aging, and aging populations spend more of their resources on health care than younger ones do. Second, the cost of health care is rising faster than almost any other sector of our economy.

And by “cost,” I mean more than dollars and cents. Among the resources required to care for an aging population are the time and efforts of younger people. You can't care for the sick and elderly simply by throwing money at the problem, at least not if “quality of life” means anything.

The third fact is that in our post-Christian, secular culture, respect for the sanctity of life, especially at its end, has been weakened. The most obvious example, of course, is physician-assisted suicide, but an even greater threat is what's called “Futile-Care Theory.” As bioethics writer Wesley Smith describes it, this theory gives doctors and hospitals — not patients and their families — “the right to declare which of us have lives worth living and therefore worth treating medically, and which of us do not.”

It's a very short leap from what Smith calls “one of the hottest and most-dangerous topics in contemporary bioethics” to what is alleged to have happened in New Orleans. And why not take lives at their end? If we're not created in the image of God, in a secular culture, we judge human life by its value to us — what it contributes — not its inherent dignity.

These factors are why the President's Council on Bioethics just issued an important report titled Taking Care: Ethical Caregiving in Our Aging Society. The report expresses concern about “the human and moral shape that a mass geriatric society will take.”

We already live in a society where millions of families “face the difficult task of caring for frail and incapacitated elders.” As the numbers increase, an unqualified respect for the sanctity of human life may come to be seen as a “luxury” we can no longer afford.

Fortunately, we are not there, yet. There's still time to make the case that it's not a “luxury” but, instead, the basis of any decent society. We must do it now, and not wait until the problem gets out of hand, so that what happened in the Big Easy, the unthinkable, does not become a matter of stated policy.

________

*

Do Not Cast Me Off In the Time of Old Age: the Challenge of the Aged, Part 1

Ruth 4:15

“Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails.” This is the prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 71:9. Like so many before and after him, the Psalmist fears being forsaken when he is old. In our own times, this concern takes on an entirely new magnitude, as the ranks of the elderly and aged grow at an unprecedented rate.

This is the concern raised by Eric Cohen and Leon R. Kass in their essay, “Cast Me Not Off in Old Age,” published in the January 2006 edition of COMMENTARY. Cohen, director of the program in biotechnology and American democracy at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and Kass, the former chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, have combined to write a most compelling essay on the challenge represented by millions of the aged among us.

Looking back to 2004 and the tragedy of Terri Schiavo, Cohen and Kass understand that the Schiavo case “revealed deep divisions in how Americans view debility and death.” As they explain, “Some saw pulling her feeding tube as an act of mercy, others as an act of murder. Some believed she possessed equal human dignity and deserved equal care despite her total lack of self-awareness; others believed keeping her alive year after year was itself an indignity.”

Beyond this, the Schiavo case indicated the limits of our national consensus about such matters as end-of-life ethics, the use of extended medical technologies, the validity of “living wills,” and the overarching theme of personal autonomy.

Yet, Cohen and Kass understand that the Schiavo case, while not unprecedented, did not represent the usual context in which such issues arise. “In our aging society, most severe disability involves instead the frail elderly, who gradually but inexorably decline into enfeeblement and dementia, often leaving grown children to preside over their extended demise. The greatest challenges involve not only deciding when to let loved ones die, but figuring out how to care every day for those who can no longer care for themselves.”

Death, disease, debility, and the challenges of growing old have been part of the human experience since the Fall. Once death became a natural part of the human experience, the question became how and when death might come and what kind of experience would precede natural death. Yet, as Cohen and Kass understand, “the circumstances in which most Americans age and die are increasingly 'unnatural' and surely unprecedented.”

In making this judgment, Cohen and Kass point to the fact that the development of high-tech medicine, the elimination of so many causes of natural death among the young, and the demographic reality of an increasing percentage of the population counted among the elderly, represents a new experience, not only for this generation, but for the human race.

Interestingly, the authors cite Thomas Jefferson who, when asked if he would choose to live over again, said yes -- but only between the ages of twenty-five and sixty. Jefferson saw no purpose in reliving his childhood and adolescence, and he nurtured few illusions about the reality of advanced age when, he wrote, “the powers of life are sensibly on the wane, sight becomes dim, hearing dull, memory constantly enlarging its frightful blank and parting with all we have ever seen or known, spirits evaporate, bodily debility creeps on palsying every limb, and so faculty after faculty quits us, and where then is life?”

Jefferson's experience -- living into such advanced age -- was relatively unusual in his own generation, but it will be the normal and normative experience of millions now living. As Cohen and Kass understand, previous generations saw so many persons die “in the nursery of life or at the peak of their flourishing.” In other words: “Living to old age was the dream of the vulnerable many; living with old age was the problem of the fortunate few.”

The “fortunate few” of previous generations is now the “vulnerable many” of our own day, who, along with their loved ones and the larger society, must come to terms with what it means to age and to be a part of a society in which so many others are also aging.

As the authors report, the average life expectancy in the United States is now seventy-eight years and rising. As recently as 1900 the life expectancy of the average American was only forty-seven. Those over the age of eighty-five represent the fastest growing segment of the American population.

The good news is that many of these older Americans are living fulfilled and relatively healthy lives, extended into many years of retirement and continued contributions to society. Accordingly, “On balance, it is a wonderful time to be old, and the democratization and expansion of old age are among modernity's greatest achievements.”

But this is not all there is to the picture. Cohen and Kass warn that we are now witnessing the development of a “mass geriatric society” which will present this country with massive economic, social, medical, political, and ethical challenges.

Cohen and Kass have both been deeply involved in the President's Council on Bioethics. Kass served as chairman of the Council, and Cohen currently serves as senior research consultant. Thus, their essay should be read in light of the Council's recently-released report, TAKING CARE: ETHICAL CAREGIVING IN OUR AGING SOCIETY. For any number of reasons, most having to do with the fact that the news media generally do not see this issue as adequately sensationalistic, the report has not received the attention it demands.

Cohen and Kass see a coming “perfect social storm” represented by a fast-growing proportion of the elderly and a shrinking number of younger adults who will be able to care for family members, loved ones, and others. Americans are living longer, but the process of death now often involves an extended period of enfeeblement and, in all too many cases, dementia. The authors cite a recent Rand study that indicated that approximately forty percent of current deaths in the United States are now preceded by a period of physical, and often mental, debility that may last as long as a decade. Of course, this may include the onset of Alzheimer's disease. At present, an estimated four million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's. Cohen and Kass report that the number is expected to rise to over thirteen million by the middle of this century, “all of them requiring many years of extensive, expensive, and exhausting full-time care.”

One of the benefits of the analysis offered by Cohen and Kass is the focus on how the rise of a “mass geriatric society” is complicated by the decline of the natural family. Put bluntly, Cohen and Kass recognize that “precisely as the need is rising, the pool of available family caregivers is dwindling. Families are smaller, less stable, and more geographically spread out.” Beyond this, most women are now employed outside the home, and there are already shortages of trained medical personnel available to tend to those who can't afford such assistance.

Thus, an explosion in the number of older Americans needing assistance and care comes at the very moment that finds the family weakened by ideological, cultural, economic, and social forces. The problems of old age are now routinely assigned to institutions, nursing homes, hospitals, and other settings – a far cry from when most Americans aged and died at home surrounded and aided by family members.

Smashing the Age Barrier

Ruth 4:15

Defeatists say ‘Yesterday’; winners say ‘Yes’ today. It’s too late to lament the past. That’s lost forever. But it’s never too late to move into overdrive. The present is ours to charge with defiant faith.

• ‘You’re too old,’ the mission board told a rejected candidate. God, who’s a little older than most of us, must have thought she was too young. He waited two more years before sending her to the field.

• Perhaps you have heard it calculated that John Wesley preached over 40,000 sermons and traveled 225,000 miles (his horse had never heard of kilometres). Did you realize these figures belong only to the latter part of his life, from age 36 to 88?

• I was impressed; until reading George Muller’s figures. He is said to have traveled 200,000 miles, using his linguistic ability to preach in several languages to an estimated three million people. Now admittedly, Muller traveled extensively overseas. If I had a choice between travelling a thousand miles on horseback or a thousand miles by sailing ship, I’d go by plane. But here’s the spice: Muller’s statistics only began after his seventieth birthday and continued for the next 17 years.

• Dr. Robert Lowry, renowned for many accomplishments as a Christian musician, first undertook the serious study of music after turning 40.

• Fanny Crosby was forty-three when she found her life’s work – she wrote her first Gospel song. So many songs followed, under so many different pen-names, that no one could keep track of them. Informed estimates range to beyond 8,000 (some say 9.000), with more than a hundred pseudonyms.

• Francis Schaeffer was little known until he was in his fifties.

• Child Evangelism Fellowship was founded by a sixty-year-old, who remained at its helm for the next 15 years.

• At 63, Clara McBride Hale began caring for addict babies. The number she has helped now runs into the hundreds.

• Peggy Smith, 84 and blind, and her sister Christine, 82 and crippled, were key people in the world-famous revival in the Scottish Hebrides.

• Elizabeth Wilson felt the tug of China when she was 20. She arrived thirty years later. Conditions were harsh and dangerous, yet her age proved a treasured asset. The Lord had called her to the Orient, where — as in most societies outside our own — age is honored. Paul Kuo presented the administrators of Hong Kong Theological College with a headache. He was already 60 and he wanted to enroll. By the time he graduated he would be too old for any church to want him. He was reluctantly admitted and although he learned, he failed to obtain a degree. In 1975 he left for Thailand’s ‘Golden Triangle’ to labor for Christ amongst mercenaries, bandits and opium farmers. His past military training earned him respect and his age made him a celebrity. He dived so deeply into ministry that he soon had to recruit other missionaries. Before long, Paul was heading up a large missionary venture.

• In 1968, two middle-aged tourists, florists for over 30 years, were so moved by what they saw in Kenya that they decided to return as missionaries. Denny and Jeanne Grindall, with no engineering skills or even formal Bible training and very little money, instigated the building of a dam almost 80 foot high and piped the clean water nearly three miles to tribespeople. The Maasai gradually became so responsive to the Grindall’s message that twenty churches were opened and hundreds came to Christ.

• I received the following e-mail from Gordon Ogden: Please pray for my ministry in marriage and family counseling. (I am 70.) Today I will work with child sexual abuse, teenage depression, adult depression, and marital discord. My weeks are filled with such. Then just when I was about to elevate my new friend to megastar status he spoilt it with his next e-mail: “Tomorrow I go to Monterey to see my friend Phillip, a Marriage, Family, Child Counselor like myself. He is currently running two recovery groups, plus his individual counseling, plus working out at the gym three days a week, plus attending conferences and driving all over the place. Phillip will be 90 in June. What a role model for a guy 20 years his junior.”

• Black American missionary to Liberia, Eliza George, was forced by her mission to retire at age 65. Undeterred, she raised her own support and continued independently for the best part of three more decades.

• ‘I want to go to the mission field as soon as I can,’ announced an enthusiastic teenager on the day of her baptism. She made it — as a seventy-one-year-old widow. In Papua New Guinea, Guatemala, Thailand, Burma and Communist Russia, Margaret Cole squeezed more excitement into a few years than most people ever see.

• Cam Townsend, founder of the Wycliffe Bible Translators, flew to Moscow and began learning Russian to assist in Bible translation work in the Caucasus. The nation was still under the iron grip of Communism and he was seventy-two.

• At that same age of seventy-two, Maude Cary accepted her missionary society’s plea ‘to open the city of El Haheb [in Morocco] to resident missionary work.’

• Evelyn Brand came to India as a young missionary. After her husband’s death she pressed on, living on a pittance, caring for villagers scattered over five mountain ranges. At age seventy-five, Granny, as she was now known, had grown too old for such arduous work. Having fallen and broken her hip, she had to be carried down the mountain by stretcher, then driven 150 bone-jarring miles to the nearest hospital. By the time her son – a brilliant medical missionary – finally arrived, she was walking with two canes and managing to ride a pony to outlying villages. The skilled doctor mustered all his persuasive powers to lovingly convince his aging mother that she ‘presented a constant medical hazard,’ riding horseback to such remote, rugged mountains with her paralyzed legs and deficient sense of balance. Brushing aside his pleas, Granny toiled for eighteen more years, despite being ravaged by tropical diseases and suffering concussions and fractures from falls off her pony. She was ninety-three when she reluctantly exchanged her horse for a stretcher; continuing her work by being carried from village to village by devoted Indians for her two remaining years.

• In modern China the seventy-year-old wife of a persecuted pastor travels extensively distributing Bibles at great risk. In another part of the nation a ninety-year-old prayerfully studies a map, wondering where to lug her next bundle of Bibles. She hugs her books, rejoicing that the Tiananmen Square massacre increased not just the danger but the demand.

Think of it this way: if growing old is as bad as is sometimes claimed, how come so many people do it?

I don’t care if you’re so long in the tooth you’ve blown your entire savings on toothpaste; so out of touch that you’re fazed by newfangled things like the King James Bible; so old your grandchildren are in nursing homes; so frail you have to rest up to watch television: God can still use you. Of course, if you’ve already passed eighty-five, I can’t promise you’ll write 8,000 songs. You might, like Fanny at that age, have to settle for only 250 hymns a year.

• If you’re ninety-one and still don’t know what you’ll do when you grow up, throw a party. If you’re ninety-five, it’s time to go to Bible School. That’s what David Sizer did. The last I heard, he was 101, still preaching in a prison and five retirement centers every week.

• Dr. Bernhard Johnson tells of a tiny Negro in Brazil aged 105 who had led hundreds to the Lord. Uninspired? A further detail should cure that. He did not know the Lord until he turned 103.

So if you’ve graduated from make-up to poly-filler, hang on to your dentures, it’s ministry time.

In Christ, Invincible

You’re fruit

Dawn glowing brighter.

growing sweeter,

Wine gaining value.

Not milk turning sour

Or cardboard caving,

Colours fading,

Under the weight of time.

You’re concrete drying stronger,

Trees growing higher.

Can Anybody Ever Really See God?

A small boy once approached his slightly older sister with a question about God. “Susie, can anybody ever really see God?” he asked.

Busy with other things, Susie curtly replied: “No, of course not silly. God is so far up in heaven that nobody can see him.” Time passed, but his question still lingered so he approached his mom: “Mom, can anybody ever really see God?” “No, not really,” she gently said. “God is a spirit and he dwells in our hearts, but we can never really see Him.”

Somewhat satisfied but still wondering, the youngster went on his way. Not long afterwards, his saintly old grandfather took the little boy on a fishing trip. They were having a great time together – it had been an ideal day. The sun was beginning to set with unusual splendor as the day ended. The old man stopped fishing and turned his full attention to the exquisite beauty unfolding before him.

On seeing the face of his grandfather reflecting such deep peace and contentment as he gazed into the magnificent ever-changing sunset, the little boy thought for a moment and finally spoke hesitatingly: “Granddad, I – I – wasn’t going to ask anybody else, but I wonder if you can tell me the answer to something I’ve been wondering about a long time – can anybody – can anybody ever really see God?” The old man did not even turn his head. A long moment slipped by before he finally answered. “Son,” he quietly said, "it’s getting so I can’t see anything else.”

Senior Version of Jesus Loves Me

John 3:16

For us over middle age (or even those almost there) and all you others, check out this version of “Jesus Loves Me”.

JESUS LOVES ME (Senior Version)

Jesus loves me, this I know,

Though my hair is white as snow.

Though my sight is growing dim,

Still He bids me trust in Him.

(CHORUS)

YES, JESUS LOVES ME... YES, JESUS LOVES ME...

YES, JESUS LOVES ME FOR THE BIBLE TEL LS ME SO.

Though my steps are oh, so slow,

With my hand in His I’ll go

On through life, let come what may,

He’ll be there to lead the way.

(CHORUS)

Though I am no longer young,

I have much which He’s begun.

Let me serve Christ with a smile,

Go with others the extra mile.

(CHORUS)

When the nights are dark and long,

In my heart He puts a song.

Telling me in words so clear,

“Have no fear, for I am near.”

(CHORUS)

When my work on earth is done,

And life’s victories have been won.

He will take me home above,

Then I’ll understand His love

(CHORUS)

I love Jesus, does He know?

Have I ever told Him so?

Jesus loves to hear me say,

That I love Him every day.

A Short Summary of A Human Life

On the first day, God created the dog and said, “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.”

The dog said, “That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten”?

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said, “Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.”

The monkey said, “Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did”?

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said, “You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.”

The cow said, “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty”?

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said, “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.”

But man said, “Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back. That makes eighty, okay”?

“Okay,” said God, “You asked for it.”

So that is why for our first twenty years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you. Now go forth.

The World's Oldest College Graduate

More than 70 years after she started school, a 94-year-old Kansas woman will soon be the world’s oldest college graduate. Nola Ochs, who is 95, first went to college in the 1930 but dropped out to get married and have a family. Recently she decided to complete what she had started. If all goes well, she will graduate from Fort Hays State University in the same class as her granddaughter.

Asked for some words of wisdom, Ochs simply said, “I give thanks to the Lord and try to live day by day. I try to do whatever is pleasing to Him. That’s what I want to do.”

It’s never too late to sharpen your mind!

This Party Is Going To Get Out of Hand

State troopers in Michigan were called out to a home in Westland. The caller “wanted us to be on guard,” Trooper Rocco Daversa said, because a party at the home could “get out of hand.” The caller, Geraldine, was the birthday girl; the “home” was a senior citizen center -- Geraldine was turning 92.

The officer made a stop on the way to pick up a birthday card. “It was just such a cute story when the dispatcher told me, I had to go out there and drop off a card,” he said. When he arrived he found that Geraldine was even more confused than he thought: the party wasn’t scheduled until the next week.

________

Detroit News

Sermon: Grow Old Along With Me

2 Samuel 19:31

Sermon in Family Concerns series, #7 2 Samuel 19:31-39

GROW OLD ALONG WITH ME

======================

I. Age is popular.

A. More and more people are getting old.

B. Needs and opportunities.

II. The challenges of age.

A. Loss of esteem.

B. Health.

C. Independence and finances.

D. Loneliness and discouragement.

III. The advantages of age.

A. Bible usually presents old age in a bright light.

B. Emotional maturity.

C. Spiritual maturity.

IV. The opportunities of age.

A. Older people can risk more.

B. Love and time.

V. We are never too old to grow.

VI. Endings mean more than beginnings.

A. Will you be faithful to the end?

B. Trust in Christ now.

It's 'Never Too Late': 94-Year-Old Gains New Life

Acts 11:14

Wearing a shower cap only moments from entering the baptismal waters, Ophelia White was beaming with excitement. With the encouragement of friends gathered in the Cook Baptist Church worship center, the 94-year-old new believer was baptized, answering the prayers of those closest to her.

“I want people to know it’s never too late,” White said. “Get with it.”

When she was a young girl, White’s mother urged her to go forward and ask to be baptized. Not fully realizing why she was doing so, White obliged and for decades believed she had a relationship with Christ.

Joy Campbell, who has shared a house with White for several years in Ruston, Louisiana, became increasingly aware this year that White lacked the confidence of Jesus in her life. So, Campbell took a bold step and asked White if she knew Christ as her personal Lord and Savior.

For several weeks, Campbell continued the spiritual conversations and prayed for her roommate until one day in August when White made the decision that she indeed needed Jesus and publicly announced her profession of faith to the congregation at Cook Baptist.

The news stirred joy inside Campbell and brought back memories of another person she knew who embraced a relationship with Christ. Campbell had been married to her husband Henry for 34 years when she realized he did not know Jesus. A deacon at the time, he admitted he did not have a saving knowledge of Christ. So in 1980, at age 64, Henry Campbell professed Jesus as his Lord and Savior. From that point until his death in 2010 Henry exhibited the change in his life because of his faith in Christ.

“I was surprised he wasn’t a Christian because he had been serving in the church so long,” Campbell said. “We as Christians need to realize that some of our people are active in service but don’t know Jesus.”

“So I began praying for him and he one day accepted Christ,” she continued. “With my husband and Ophelia, it was a reminder that it’s never too late to become a Christian and that you should never give up on a person. It takes time, a lot of time.”

White’s baptism came as an encouragement for the Cook Baptist congregation not just as a reminder that it is never too late to accept Jesus. It also is evidence of how the witness of a close friend can be a catalyst for a lost person to become a Christian, said Todd Free, the church’s discipleship and administration pastor.

“It’s inspiring to people, particularly for senior adults, to know that God is still touching hearts even in the elderly years,” Free said.

“There are many others like Mrs. White who went their whole life thinking they knew Christ but understood later their need for Him.

“I’m praying we have others in our congregation who have a similar story will have the courage to do as Mrs. White,” Free said. “We see her testimony as a gift from God to our church and are grateful He allowed us to be a part of this.”

Sermon: the Golden Girls

1 Timothy 5:1

Sermon in 1 Timothy series - Clean Up the Church, #11. 1 Timothy 5:1-16

THE GOLDEN GIRLS

================

I. It's hard to be alone.

A. And harder in some places than others.

B. Christianity has taken a different approach.

C. Paul lays much of the foundation.

II. We have a responsibility across generations.

A. Show respect. 5:1

B. Every relationship should be treated as you would family. 5:2

III. Our responsibility includes practical care.

A. The church has helped out its own from the beginning.

B. Our own families must be the primary caregivers.

IV. Modern Christians face a different situation.

A. Our families have changed.

B. Society has come up with a range of care options.

C. If we have the ability, we should help.

V. The elderly have an important role.

A. Paul saw the elderly are not just recipients, but givers.

B. How will you grow old?

Older Is Not Necessarily Wiser

Older is not necessarily wiser. You’re never more open to new experience than when you’re 20. After that, the need to make money, the fear of having no work, the demands of children, the sense that the world is moving in strange new directions, the appearance of unfamiliar forms of expression that inevitably seem less wonderful than the ones that changed your life when you were 20 cause the aperture to slowly narrow.

By 50, the obvious fact of your own decline is easily mistaken for an intimation of the world’s. And, since there’s never a shortage of evidence that things are, indeed, worse than they used to be, it’s incredibly satisfying to indulge the idea, and easy to confuse it with a veteran’s seasoned judgment.

________

Packer's article can be found at .

Even Old Fogies Can Get Saved

Acts 26:28

It may be rare, but even old fogies can get saved.

Greg Boyd grew up Catholic, became an atheist, then got saved. He earned a Ph.D. at Princeton Theological Seminary and became the pastor of a large church.

One thing that burdened him is that his father did not believe in God. He was getting up there in years and Greg decided to do something about it. He challenged his father to write him letters that laid out his biggest objections to faith. Greg answered those questions as best he could.

They covered some big areas, like how can you know the Bible is true, and how do you explain all the suffering in the world. It wasn’t just hypothetical stuff - his father’s wife, Greg’s mom, had died when the kids were very small. Edward had strong reasons not to believe in God.

After many letters passed back and forth, a miracle happened - Edward accepted Jesus as his savior. He spent the last ten years of his life as a dedicated Christian.

________

Adapted from the book "Letters from a Skeptic: A Son Wrestles with His Father's Questions about Christianity," by Dr. Gregory A. Boyd and Edward K. Boyd.

Old Age, Happiness, and Virtue: A Package Deal For the Golden Years

Ruth 4:15

According to new research, maybe the “golden years” can really be golden after all. I’ll explain.

When you hear the words “old age,” what comes to mind? In cultures gone by, it meant wisdom, sage, elder, respect. But today in our youth-obsessed culture, we tend to think of “decline,” “frailty,” “sickness,” and “death.” Many believe that the hobbit Bilbo had old age pegged when he said in The Lord of the Rings, “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”

And recently Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the architects of Obamacare, said in The Atlantic that he wanted to die at age 75. Living too long, he thinks, “renders many of us, if not disabled, then faltering and declining ... It robs us of our creativity and ability to contribute to work, society, the world ... We are no longer remembered as vibrant and engaged but as feeble, ineffectual, even pathetic.”

This sort of thinking has not only made a lucrative industry out of anti-aging products, but it’s driving the whole so-called “death with dignity” movement.

Of course, there’s no denying that old age is a stage of life — the last stage, in fact — and it comes with a whole host of unpleasant things: the loss of mobility, loved ones, and so on.

But according to a growing body of research, if folks like Emanuel get their wish, our culture will be robbed of some of the happiest years of our lives. Researcher Jonathan Rauch and others have noted the persistence of what they call “the U-Curve.” In the U.S. and in scores of countries, young adults tend to rate themselves as very happy, but the older they get, up to age 50, the less happy they become.

This may be due to the accumulation of life stress, the mismatch of early dreams with reality, and so on. But as people begin the journey into older age, reported happiness actually begins to increase again. The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has found that nearly 40 percent of Americans aged 65 and older described themselves as “very happy,” compared with just 33 percent of those between 35 and 49.

New York Times columnist David Brooks says that many psychologists attribute this boost in well-being to natural changes in the brain. And while there may be some truth to this, I agree with Brooks’ opinion, “that elder happiness is an accomplishment, not a condition, that people get better at living through effort, by mastering specific skills.”

The first life skill he notes is bifocalism, the ability to see a situation from multiple perspectives. That only comes with experience. Next is lightness, the ability to be at ease with the downsides of life. Again, the accumulation of years can help us not take ourselves so seriously. And then there’s the acquired wisdom of responding to competing demands. Finally, Brooks notes that older people often have an intuitive grasp of what other people are thinking, leading to greater empathy. All these benefits can come with advancing years, leading to increased happiness and contentment.

Of course, Chuck Colson often pointed out that happiness is not the mere pursuit of good experiences or feelings, but the classically understood “good life”, or the deliberate acquisition of virtue, which these research findings corroborate. Wisdom, ultimately, comes from the Lord. As the psalmist said, “What man is there who desires life / and loves many days, that he may see good? / Keep your tongue from evil / and your lips from speaking deceit. / Turn away from evil and do good; / seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:12-14)

Virtue is the mark of a life well lived, and it takes a lifetime to cultivate. Christians, whatever our age, are to seek the wisdom that only God can provide.

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Resources:

The Real Roots of Midlife Crisis

< http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/12/the-real-roots-of-midlife-crisis/382235>

Jonathan Rauch, The Atlantic, November 17, 2014

Why Elders Smile

David Brooks, New York Times, December 4, 2014

Happiness and Virtue: Life Well Lived

Chuck Colson, BreakPoint.org, April 14, 2010

Why I Hope to Die at 75

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, The Atlantic, December 2014

The happiness curve

Robert J. Samuelson, Washington Post, December 7, 2014

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Strategic Seniors

Job 12:12

I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago -- a young pastor -- who shared an honest concern I remember mulling over when I was in the pastorate. As the church was beginning to reach young couples, students and children, the senior adults felt less and less valuable. The believed “their time” had passed them by in the life of the church, and their ministry had now been relegated to nothing more than watching and waiting.

I shared with my pastor friend some memories from when I was a child. My dad was a pastor. There were plenty of young adults and young marrieds in our church. But for some reason, the people I remember to this day -- the ones who left a Jesus-shaped impression on me as a boy -- they were all old. Every one of them.

Even as I type this 30 years later, their faces flash across my mind. As a child and a youth, I did not despise senior adults. I valued them. They tended to love a little more deeply, to be present a little more frequently, and to listen and speak a little more empathetically. Mr. Kendall. Mrs. Ada. Mr. Rogers. Mr. Billy. Mr. Fred. Mrs. West. I remember wanting to be like them when I was a child. Thirty years later, I still do.

Senior adults are vital to the health and ministry of the church. A thriving senior adult ministry has very little to do with health fairs, trips to Branson or backgammon. Rather, a thriving senior adult ministry facilitates an atmosphere where older men and women can be intentional about reproducing themselves in the lives of younger church members.

The Bible is clear that senior adults are not just to be respected because they are “old.” Here are seven reasons your church needs senior adults.

Wisdom gained through experience (Job 12:12, Proverbs 23:22-23)

If younger men and women in the church would learn to capitalize on the wisdom of experience possessed by senior adults, they may be able to avoid many pitfalls of the faith and of the ministry.

Involvement in ministry opportunities (Psalm 92:12-15)

Honestly, there are some ministries of the church for which senior adults are better suited than younger men and women. They have more time. They have more life experience. They often have an extensive network of relationships within the community (family, friends and business connections) that young people do not. Senior adults can and should still “bear fruit in old age, healthy and green” (Psalm 92:14).

Passing down a legacy of faith (Psalm 71:17-18)

Many senior adults have stories of God’s faithfulness through the years that younger families desperately need to hear. If we do not provide avenues for senior adults to share their stories of God’s faithfulness to younger church members, we are robbing the next generation of the proof of God’s power and strength through all circumstances.

Transmission of timeless truth (Titus 2:1-7)

We all know that the longer you study God’s Word, the deeper and richer His eternal truth becomes. Similarly, the longer you apply God’s Word to your Christian walk, the more pervasive the truth of the Gospel becomes in every area of your life. Many older men and older women, through decades of faithful study and application of God’s Word, have an intimacy with God to which younger men and women need to be exposed.

Faith through trial (Psalm 37:25)

When a young Christian is seriously struggling through circumstances that test faith, he or she needs an older Christian to walk with him through the fire. The senior adult psalmist in this passage writes, “I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.” In moments that feel like forsakenness and depravation, senior adults can testify that time will prove God’s faithfulness.

Lessons in respect and honor (Leviticus 19:32, Proverbs 16:31, 20:29, 1 Timothy 5:1-2)

As God molds and shapes the Christian in the image of Christ, one thing we all need to learn is how to respect and honor our fathers. Scripture is clear that this is a timeless teaching for all generations. How will your congregants learn to respect and honor senior adults if they are not an active part of the body-life of your church?

A genuine heart of love (Philemon 9-10)

Things need to happen, and time is of the essence. Young men and women can have a tendency to be forceful in their appeals. But as Paul did in his old age, senior adults often have a gentleness about them that has been forged in the fires of hurt, sorrow, pain and faithfulness over a period of decades. No one is better suited to appeal from a genuine heart of love than a gracious man or woman who has walked a thousand miles in a thousand pairs of shoes.

Senior adults are not the church of yesterday. Until the day God calls them home, they are the church of today. The truth is, as time progresses each generation will one day become the senior adults in the church. They are not a burden. Value them. Respect them. Love them. Lead them. They are a gift from God. You need them and they need you.

Tokyo’s 'Oldest Man' Had Been Dead For 30 Years

John 6:50

He was thought to be the oldest man in Tokyo - but when officials went to congratulate Sogen Kato on his 111th birthday, they uncovered mummified skeletal remains lying in his bed.

Mr Kato may have been dead for 30 years according to Japanese authorities.

They grew suspicious when they went to honour Mr Kato at his address in Adachi ward, but his granddaughter told them he “doesn’t want to see anybody”.

Police are now investigating the family on possible fraud charges.

‘Living Buddha’

Welfare officials had tried to meet Mr Kato since early this year. But when they went to visit, family members repeatedly chased them away, according to Tomoko Iwamatsu, an Adachi ward official.

Authorities grew suspicious and sought an investigation by police, who forced their way into the house on Wednesday.

They discovered a mummified body, believed to be Kato, lying in his bed, wearing underwear and pajamas, covered with a blanket.

Mr Kato’s relatives told police that he had “confined himself in his room more than 30 years ago and became a living Buddha,” according to a report by Jiji Press.

But the family had received 9.5 million yen ($109,000: £70,000) in widower’s pension payments via Mr Kato’s bank account since his wife died six years ago, and some of the money had recently been withdrawn.

The pension fund had long been unable to contact Mr Kato.

“His family must have known he has been dead all these years and acted as if nothing happened. It’s so eerie,” said Yutaka Muroi, a Tokyo metropolitan welfare official.

The Silver Cord

Final sermon in Ecclesiastes series. Death and old age. Eccl 12:1-14

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THE SILVER CORD

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I. How long do you want to live?

II. What it is like to grow old.

A. An experiment.

B. An allegory of decreptitude.

III. What we have to look forward to.

IV. Going to the eternal home. 11:5

A. Grave in view, not heavenly mansion here.

B. The dust of death. 11:7

C. Death should filter our passions. 11:6

D. It's all meaningless - apart from faith.

V. The conclusion of the matter. 12:13-14

A. To obey God is to be truly human.

B. The secret is not in morality or knowledge but in trust in God.

#4041

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Remarks By Daniel Auber

A friend of the French composer Daniel Francois Auber once remarked to him, "My friend, we're all getting older, aren't we?"

Auber sighed, "Well there's no help for it. Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long time." Auber was so determined to live a long time that he refused to think about death, and whenever he was reminded of its approach he would say, "I'll pay no attention to it." But in his old age the composer began to accommodate himself to the idea of his mortality. At a funeral service which he was compelled to attend, Auber remarked to one of his fellow mourners, "I believe this is the last time I'll take part as an amateur."

Tokyo’s 'Oldest Man' Had Been Dead For 30 Years

John 6:50

He was thought to be the oldest man in Tokyo - but when officials went to congratulate Sogen Kato on his 111th birthday, they uncovered mummified skeletal remains lying in his bed.

Mr Kato may have been dead for 30 years according to Japanese authorities.

They grew suspicious when they went to honour Mr Kato at his address in Adachi ward, but his granddaughter told them he “doesn’t want to see anybody”.

Police are now investigating the family on possible fraud charges.

‘Living Buddha’

Welfare officials had tried to meet Mr Kato since early this year. But when they went to visit, family members repeatedly chased them away, according to Tomoko Iwamatsu, an Adachi ward official.

Authorities grew suspicious and sought an investigation by police, who forced their way into the house on Wednesday.

They discovered a mummified body, believed to be Kato, lying in his bed, wearing underwear and pajamas, covered with a blanket.

Mr Kato’s relatives told police that he had “confined himself in his room more than 30 years ago and became a living Buddha,” according to a report by Jiji Press.

But the family had received 9.5 million yen ($109,000: £70,000) in widower’s pension payments via Mr Kato’s bank account since his wife died six years ago, and some of the money had recently been withdrawn.

The pension fund had long been unable to contact Mr Kato.

“His family must have known he has been dead all these years and acted as if nothing happened. It’s so eerie,” said Yutaka Muroi, a Tokyo metropolitan welfare official.

75 Sermon Illustrations on Elderly