We are charged with passing on our faith to the new generations.
We gather to praise God for days long passed,
and to praise God for days to come.
Deuteronomy 6:4-7a
Revelation 7:9-17
All right, here we are again.
Our annual quiz time.
Who here knew that May is Older Adults Month?
Who here knew that this is Older Adults Sunday?
Who here knew that this begins Older Adults Week?
(Well, it actually isn’t. The rest of the world celebrates it the first week of May – but we had something else to celebrate then, so here we are today.)
Who doesn’t give a flip, one way or the other?
Perhaps we should, though.
We are an aging people.
We are getting older all the time.
We are all aging – for sure, some more graceful than others – but we are all getting older with each passing day.
And, in spite of all the ads, in spite of how hard we may try, there is nothing we can do about it – except, perhaps, to laugh.
I agree with the wag that came up with a list of how they are dealing with aging:
As I get older, I still find that I can still be the life of the party... even when it lasts until 8 p.m
And, I am becoming very good at opening childproof medicine bottle caps – with a hammer.
And, I'm usually interested in going home before I get to where I am going.
More and more, I find that I'm the first one to find the bathroom wherever I go.
My friend says that I'm smiling all the time because I can't hear a word you're saying.
We all know someone who is very good at telling stories.....over and over and over and over.
I am constantly reminding Suzanne, that I am not grouchy, I just don't like traffic, waiting, crowds, children, politicians...
But, I do notice that I have trouble remembering simple words like.........
And I seem to be thinking more about the hereafter with each passing day. More and more I find myself entering a room, looking around, and saying “now what am I here after?”
I seem to be more and more anti-everything now: anti-fat, anti-smoke, anti-noise, anti-inflammatory.....
So I am beginning the initial stage of my golden years: SS, CD's, IRA'S, AARP.....
And, I am convinced that they are making adults much younger these days.
I remember visiting a lady who hadn't come out of her house in two or three weeks.
When I visited her, it didn't seem like anything was particularly wrong, and so I asked her why she was in bed.
She asked me how old I thought she was.
That's always a trick question.
She was 86, but she carried herself well, and thought she could surely pass for a much younger person.
Then she told me the story of going into a drugstore three weeks before, and, it being an extremely hot and hazy and humid day everybody was talking about it.
She was standing in line at the checkout and realized beads of sweat were welling up on her forehead.
She got her hanky out to wipe her brow, and said to the clerk, "Going to be ninety-seven today."
The man reached across the counter, shook her hand and said, "Happy birthday."
She went home and took to her bed.
I know, when I first got my bifocals it took some time for me to get used to them – to get used to seeing out of them, and to get used to how much older I knew it must make me look.
I knew of a lady in her 40s who just refused to wear her bifocals because she thought they made her look older.
One day, however, when I stopped by, she had her glasses on.
I asked her, "How long have you been wearing those?"
She said, "Since yesterday, as I was baking some
tollhouse cookies I picked up the fly swatter and
killed four chocolate chips."
Sometimes we almost wait too late.
When I accompanied a 96-year-old-man to the Broomall Nursing Home who, for an admissions interview by a social worker.
The alert, twinkling-eyed, 96-year-old man was asked, "Did you have a happy childhood?"
His answer was, "So far, so good!"
Some of you know full well that our whole CONCEPT OF AGING has changed over the years, hasn't it?
Do you remember when you thought that seventy was really old?
Mike Wallace is still around on tv every once and a while at age 93.
At age 92, Andy Rooney still records a commentary each week for 60 Minutes – although they seem to be no longer airing them every week.
Jack Lalanne died this year at age 96.
I’m going to be 70 this year, and I remember when Jack Lalanne celebrated his seventieth birthday.
Do you remember Jack Lalanne?
He celebrated his 70th birthday by swimming the mile across Long Beach Harbor towing 70 boats containing 70 people.
And, he did it by holding the rope in his teeth,
and he was handcuffed and wearing leg shackles!
I heard Paul Harvey tell about a lady who was 103. Her name was Eva Reitzel.
When asked her formula for living to be a healthy, active 103, she responded in only nine words:
"Stay away from doctors – and stay away from men." Sound like anyone you know?
All of us know people who exemplify a healthy approach to getting older, don’t we?
Some of you know, that I clip newspaper articles – especially articles pertaining to topics that I think have great implication for you and me.
Maybe you saw the article about Fran Lasee – it appeared a while back.
Fran Lasee became one of my heroes when I read this.
At the time of the article, Fran Lasee was 83, and bowled four times a week.
The article related that Fran Lasee had just thrown 30 of a possible 36 strikes to become the oldest man in the United States to bowl an 800-plus series.
He bowled an 834 in the Aurora BayCare Senior Classic at Willow Creek Lanes.
Fran Lasee, who turned 83 in December, bowled three games of 279, 290 and 265.
And there was this about the professor at Messiah College, near Harrisburg, who retired in 2004 at the age of 104.
Two years before his retirement, at 102, Professor Ray Crist was named America's oldest worker.
Dr. Crist said he plans to spend his retirement years researching a variety of subjects and writing academic papers.
He said,
"When you have a mission, you go after it.
And I am still going after it."
You know, this aging of the population is only a recent phenomenon.
Today, one out of every nine Americans is old.
This has not always been the case.
As late as 1930, there were less than seven million older Americans.
This year the first Baby Boomers turn 65!
Every single day now for the next 19 years 10,000 people will turn 65 – over 3.6 million this year alone!
And by 2012, Americans age 50 or older will have swelled to more than 100 million.
Did you know that:
Two-thirds of all persons sixty-five or older who have ever lived are alive today!
Did you know that:
Today there are over 80 million Americans over the age of fifty.
Did you know that:
"American seniors now outnumber the entire population of Canada."
Did you know that:
By 2040, 25 percent of the American population will be over sixty-five.
The nation's number one magazine is Modern Maturity Magazine – with more readers than Time and Newsweek combined!
Since 1900, ten years have been added to the median age of the U.S. population.
Since 1950, the number of Americans over one hundred years has grown more than ten times.
And, we know that our attitudes toward aging are changing.
I like to refer to this particular study that came out a while back:
In the early 1960s, a group of middle-class, middle-aged people were asked their opinions on the best ages for various life events, and how old people are at various life stages.
Some time later – 30 years or so, the study was repeated.
An amazing change had occurred.
Consensus had dropped regarding every item of the questionnaire.
In the first study, "a young man" was considered to be a man between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two.
Thirty years later, the people defined a young person as being anywhere from eighteen to forty years old.
The authors of the study noted that "What is extraordinary about this, is that in the public mind youth appears to have expanded from a period lasting roughly four years to a period of about twenty-two years – more than five times longer!
As we get older, our attitudes toward aging change, don’t they?
As a young person in the 60's railing against the establishment, our mantra was “you can’t trust anyone over the age of 30.”
Well, when we became 30 we had to change our tune.
Many people are discovering today that life really does begin at forty.
Today's forty-year-old can possibly look forward to another half-century of productive living.
Some people observe that today’s 60 is yesterday’s 40.
Even though the Baby Boomers are turning 65, according to a Pew Research study, they don’t consider themselves old at all, and most are not even considering retiring any time soon, thank you very much.
They are destined to impact how the world perceives the golden age just as they have their young adult years in the 60's and middle age as well.
And, all of this is reflected in the churches today.
Our reading today from the book of the Revelation is a picture of Heaven.
The language is symbolic but the lesson is real.
John sees before the throne of God a huge crowd of so many people no could count them,
from every nation, every tribe, every people and every language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.
They are wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
Who are these people?
They are persons who have gone through great suffering;
they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore, says John,
"God . . . will spread his tent over them.
Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (NIV)
Who are the people standing before the throne of God?
They are those who stood their ground in the time of testing.
They are those who gave their lives for their faith.
They are those whose sacrifices made it possible that we might gather in the sanctuary this day.
Who are these people dressed in white?
They are men and women, young and old from every nation and race on earth.
They are bound by one bond – they sought to walk in the footsteps of the Risen Christ.
And, now they reside with God where they will never suffer again.
Who are these people dressed in white?
They are people of courage and compassion,
people who cared more than other people care,
people who were not afraid of tough decisions,
people who were willing to sacrifice for their faith.
The question that confronts us this day is,
will we be among them?
How much do we care?
How willing are we to stand in the hour of testing?
The picture we have in the book or Revelation is a wonderful vision of the rewards that come to those who have patiently waited and worshiped and worked for Christ.
Remember this, people of faith.
The Lord – and the Lord alone – is our God.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your strength.
Never forget these commandments . . .
Teach them to your children –
pass the faith on from generation to generation.
You see, from my perspective, Calie and Jake,
and Bethany and Bryce,
and Amelia, and other child who should come through those doors,
are very very fortunate –
they are fortunate in at least three ways:
- they have parents who want them to know the faith that has been passed down to us;
- and they have you and me – an extended family of doting grand-parents to show them what is possible in life,to encourage them along the way, and to pass on concrete examples of how faith interacts with life;
- and they have this church –a place where they know they are accepted and wanted and cared for –a place that passes on the stories of the faith that have been handed down to us, a place that exposes chinks in the armor of the culture around us –providing examples of glimpses of life as it is meant to be lived.
As long as I am here and as long as these doors are open,
these children will be welcomed always –
and I will continue to let them know that it is no accident that all these gray heads are here.
One preacher calls what we do here a family reunion – a family reunion that gathers every Sunday.
Where else will a child ever experience being a group of adults that know the child’s name –
and expresses care and concern for the child as a person?
Today we celebrate the generations.
We are charged with passing on our faith to the new generations.
We gather to praise God for days long passed,
and to praise God for days to come,
let our aim be to move from strength to strength, forever praising God.
Amen.
This sermon was a part of the Sunday worship service at Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, May 22, 2011.
