There Comes A Time, May 3, 2015

T h e r e C o m e s A T i m e

Psalm 92:1-5, 12-15, 2 Timothy 4:1-8

May 3, 2015

Grace Presbyterian Church

Rev. Dr. Richard E. Miller

 

Registering for Gifts  Jacob, aged 85, and Rebecca, 79, are all excited about their decision to get married. They go for a stroll to discuss the wedding and pass a drugstore. Jacob suggests they go in. He goes over the pharmacist and asks:

"Are you the owner?" Pharmacist: "Yes."

Jacob: "Do you sell heart medication?" Pharmacist: "Of course we do."

Jacob: "How about medicine for circulation?" Pharmacist: "All kinds."

Jacob: "Medicine for rheumatism?" Pharmacist: "Definitely."

Jacob: "Medicine for memory?" Pharmacist: "Yes, a large variety."

Jacob: "What about vitamins and sleeping pills?" Pharmacist: "Absolutely."

Jacob: "Perfect! We'd like to register here for our wedding gifts."

 

Older Adult Week  Today is the beginning of Older Adult Week in the Presbyterian Church. All over our denomination, sermons are being preached about older adults and growing older. As a part of the observation, the presbytery will hold its annual Celebration on Aging this Wednesday at the First Presbyterian Church in Granite City. Each church in the presbytery selects a person or a couple to be honored for the many accomplishments and contributions to their congregation. This year, Grace has chosen Ginny and Dale Wooldridge as their honorees.

 

If You Live Long Enough  So how do you know when you’ve become an older adult and can be honored like Ginny and Dale?

• There comes a time, if you live long enough, when all of a sudden you notice that people are calling you ma'am or sir, and they're whispering to one another, "He looks pretty good for his age, doesn’t he?"
• There comes a time, if you live long enough, when you realize with a start that you are eligible for senior citizen discounts.
• There comes a time, if you live long enough, when the clothing, toys and furniture you had as a child are now considered collectibles and antiques.
• There comes a time, if you live long enough, when your knees buckle, but your belt won’t; when you get winded playing chess; and when you sit in a rocking chair and can’t make it go.
• There comes a time when your high school classmates are so gray, wrinkled and bald, they don't recognize you.
  If some of these statement apply to you, I would ask you this: “How do you feel about getting older? About getting old? About being old?” In our teens, we feel as though we are immortal and that we’ll live forever. And we had definite ideas about age.
  I remember when I was ten, I thought twenty was old. In my twenties, I thought forty was old. And in my forties, I thought sixty was the end of the line.
  Now I feel that sixty is young. And twenty year olds are really young! But no matter what age we might be, we have specific ideas on what it means to grow older and to one day die.
  Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night   When the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas [1914-1953], discovered that his father was dying, he said to him:
  Do not go gentle into that good night.  Old age should burn and rage at close of day.  Rage, rage against the dying of the light."  ["Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," Modern English Prose and Poetry , Kubat and Magill, 1963, p. 335]
  Preoccupation with Aging   Through the years many Americans have taken those words seriously. They refuse to go gentle into that good night. They have become preoccupied with aging and with growing old. However, it hasn't been a love affair, but rather a warring conflict. Many do every thing they can to hide the fact that they’re getting older. Remember this ad?  “Don’t lie about your age! Defy it, with Revlon age-defying make-up!”
  People spend billions of dollars each year doing battle with arthritis, wrinkles, gray hair, no hair, hearing loss, sagging skin, dentures and, the worst enemy of all - liver spots! Do you suppose that when Paul said that our outer nature is wasting away, he just discovered that he had liver spots?
  Yes, our preoccupation with aging has been basically negative. We don't want to grow old.  We talk with fear and trepidation about reaching our big "30," "40," “60,” or "80" birthdays. We talk about being "over the hill," and joke that "our get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went.”
  I love the story of a little girl who climbed up on her grandma’s lap. She looked at her grandma’s white hair and wrinkled skin and asked, “Grandma, did God make you?” “Why yes, dear, he certainly did.” “Well, grandma, did God make me too?” “Yes, he made you, too.”  “Well,” said the little girl, “I think God’s doing a better job now than he used to.”
  Stereotypes  We reinforce our negative attitudes by believing various myths and stereotypes about aging. For instance, we hear that when people grow old they decline intellectually, lose all interest in romance, grow more religious, begin to mellow, live in nursing homes, are senile, and are fixed in their ways.
  Even though each of these generalizations is false, people of all ages believe them. As a result, they go through life more concerned about growing old than with living their lives to the fullest for Christ. They focus upon sickness, disability and death rather than upon the gift of life.
  Impact on Church  And these attitudes impact upon the church as well. The church is aging just like society. For instance, in 1900, only four percent of all Americans were age 65 and over. Today, this has risen to thirteen percent. Today, nearly half of all Presbyterian congregations have a majority of members who are 65 or older. One-half of all presbyterians are over the age of 50.
  Scripture   If we look in the Bible, we find varied views of aging. In the 90th psalm we read, "the years of our life are threescore and ten, or even by reason of strength, fourscore; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10)
  Without the assurance of life after death, this is a very normal attitude about aging, for aging leads one closer to death.
  However, there are some positive attitudes about aging as well. In Leviticus we read, "You shall rise up... and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God." (Leviticus 19:32) In the Ten Commandments we read, "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” (Exodus 20:12)
  And in Proverbs we hear, "The glory of young men is their strength, but the beauty of old men is their gray hair. (Proverbs 20:29).  (This is a far cry from "washing that gray right out of your hair," isn't it?)
  Finally, Job says, "wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days." (Job 12:12)
  In Psalm 92 we read: “The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. In old age they still produce fruit, they are always green and full of sap.”
  Value of Life  So old age is to be honored, revered, and even welcomed. And every person, regardless of age, is of great value. Jesus said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will.  But even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:29-31) This means we are to treat one another as having great value; as being very special, no matter what our age might be.
  Scriptures also affirm the fact that we have need of each other. Paul puts it this way: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” Paul goes on to say that no member of the body of Christ should say to another, "I have no need of you." (1 Corinthians 12:14-26) Indeed, we have need of each other no matter what our age might be.
  Carl G. Howie notes, "We need each other in this household of God: the young need the old, the old need the young.  We must not be alienated or separated.  The church and the faith are for all ages." (Aging: A Christian View, p. 15)   
  This means that we older Americans must continue to be role models for the young. They must see Christ’s spirit dwelling in our hearts.
  The story is told of the Sunday School teacher who told her students that they needed Jesus in their hearts. And that Jesus will come to live in their hearts if they invite him to do so. After one little girl arrived home, she saw her father sitting on the sofa. She walked over and placed her ear on her father’s chest. “What are you doing?” asked the father. She told him what her teacher has said and then said, “I’m listening for Jesus in your heart.” The father let her listen for a few moments and then asked, “Well, is Jesus in there?” “Oh yes, he’s in there for sure, but it sounds to me like he’s making coffee.”
  Let Us Cherish Parents and Ancestors   Isaiah wrote: “Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.” [Isaiah 51:1] This means to remember and honor those who have died and entered into their resurrection. And it means that we should live our lives in such a way that our grandchildren and even our ggg-grandchildren will look to us and rejoice that we are their ancestors.
  God Cares for Us Always  God says to us, “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, even when you turn gray I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” [Isaiah 46:3-4]
  We Have A House Not Made With Hands  The message of Christ is that we are mortal. Old age proves that. Death proves that. Yet, "we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God , a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” [2 Corinthians 5:1] Indeed, our earthly house does wear out. And as this happens, let us live in such a way that we can proclaim with Paul, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

Psalm 92:1-5, 12-15 NRSV

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

   to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

to declare your steadfast love in the morning,

   and your faithfulness by night,

to the music of the lute and the harp,

   to the melody of the lyre.

For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;

   at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

 

How great are your works, O Lord!

   Your thoughts are very deep!

The righteous flourish like the palm tree,

   and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

They are planted in the house of the Lord;

   they flourish in the courts of our God.

In old age they still produce fruit;

   they are always green and full of sap,

showing that the Lord is upright;

   he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

 

2 Timothy 4:1-8 NRSV

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.