I sat
in a morning meeting at Campmeeting last summer--I had specially
arranged babysitting so I could go to one meeting of the day for
grown-ups. I remember looking around me, and noticing the
others were more grown-up than I. The army of youth was not
bivouacking at Campmeeting that year. The pre-retirement adults
weren't exactly flocking there, either. I didn't see much hair
in tones that weren't silvery. What I did see, however, was a lot of
potential.
I saw
people who got up early, carrying their Bibles, to sit on hard
benches and listen to a sermon. Yes, a sermon. I looked around
at them, faithful souls, if slow-moving, and I thought about the
commitment that must have brought them. I'm sure those benches were
harder on them than on me. I thought about how many sermons they had
absorbed over the years, how many miles of underlining in those
Bibles, how many hours of prayer.
We
have an army. They've already shown up. We can't afford to overlook
what we have, because we're pining for what we don't. We can't afford
to huddle in our Sabbath School classes, encouraging each other with
the thought of other people sharing the gospel for us. It's time to
embrace our reality.
I'm
picturing the objections now. The seniors have already given
their years of youth to serve the church. What's more, age hurts--what they give
costs them more than it would a younger person.
And I
agree. But they also have resources we need. They have
experience, and they have connections.
Grandparents
especially are rich in the relationships that don't sever
easily--family. Young adults may leave the church, but as long
as Grandma dotes and Grandpa tells good stories, they can't stop the
church from coming to them. People with a lot of life
experience not only know people, they've grown the confidence
and wisdom to care about eternity, and to talk about it out loud. And
in the end, who's going to be more approachable and easy to
trust--your overworked pastor, stuffed into a suit and weary from a
parade of people, or a warm grandparent type?
Maybe
it's time to free up our seniors from baking the communion bread and
taking up the offering, and focus on what they can do for the lost
world. Our best evangelistic resources might just be going to
waste, wishing they were younger, not knowing what potential is in
their hands.
Maybe.
Maybe my vision of an army of seniors is just the same thing as
the dream about youth. Maybe it's a crutch--daydreaming that someone
else will share the gospel and change the world. It's always easier,
I expect, to see your own obstacles, and other people's potential.
Maybe the key isn't finding the right demographic of people to tie
the burden on to. It's seeing what we have, and using it. It's
our burden, and it's not so heavy when we lift together.
We
have an army. It might not look the way we pictured, but we
can't afford to overlook people who show up. It's time to kill the
daydream, and make something out of reality.
Well put. I have used my age and physical limitations for too long. Instead of whining about what I can't do, I think it's about time I start looking for what I can be useful in.
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