Guiding Worship
For those who plan and lead worship events.
Honoring older members
by Michelle Dula
When members in our congregation reach age 65 they join the Blossom Hill “Sage Club.” Each inductee receives a mug that reads, “Blossom Hill Sage.” We include a prayer and a blessing as we recognize the wisdom they carry as well as the challenges that come with aging.
One older member of our congregation, in a truth-telling moment, reminded me that it is one thing to call them sages but are we really asking for the wisdom that they have to share? As a result of this conversation we decided to dedicate three Sundays for some of our sages share their wisdom. We gave them questions to guide their thinking: What have you learned from your life? What do you look forward to? We found these Sundays to be rich and incredibly interesting as we heard stories from their lives we could never have imagined. But perhaps the most gratifying part of the experience was seeing how these members responded to this invitation. Being asked to share gave some sort of validation to their life. It was evident from their stories that God had been faithful and continues to be faithful in their lives. They were stories we needed to hear.
For instance, one story is about Marie, 60, who came to our congregation and found a church that enables her to “hear God calling my name.” She heard God’s voice through the exquisite floral photographs Marie shared with the congregation. One of our pastors saw the photographs and asked if we could enlarge them for our advent visuals. Each week these photographs were unveiled during the season of advent revealing a new piece of God’s creation. It was evident in Marie’s eyes that God was unveiling something in her too. For the first time in her life, Marie’s artistic gifts were welcomed and celebrated in the life of the congregation.
Marie’s story is a powerful reminder of how necessary it is for people to feel like their gifts are needed in the congregation. Celebrating transitions into various stages of life, especially for older adults, is a way of reminding these adults and the rest of the congregation that that they are still needed in the church. Some older adults worry about transitioning into their later years because they fear that they will not be needed anymore. Like Marie, they realize that being needed by the church directly affects how they experience God.
Celebrating life transitions is a way to help us remember that all of life is of God and that even in our journey into new stages, God is there. Whether it is our baby dedications, our nine-year olds planting trees, our baptisms, our house blessings, each reminds us that we are to care for each other from the time we are born to the time we die. As we read in 1 Corinthians 12:26, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” These words are fitting as they follow the passage on how all parts of the body are needed. Only when all are needed, can the body truly suffer and celebrate with each other. These celebrations are one way we show love to each other.
Of course, valuing the older adults among us is much more than mugs or Sunday morning sermons. It shows up in the things we ask them to do in the church all year long and it shows up in how we listen to them. However, we have found that an intentional time of celebration raises awareness in our congregation as well as in our sages that our covenant together continues and that all have value among us.
Asking older members to share their life stories gave them validation for their lives.
Marie continues to grace our table with her various artistic creations evoking wonder and awe. We can only wonder what we would be missing without her. Gratefully she has found a home where God continues to call her name. In a way her artistic gifts allow all of us to hear God calling our names. That is what sharing our gifts does. It reveals a fuller picture of God.
Michelle Dula is Associate Pastor of Christian Formation at Blossom Hill Mennonite Church in Lancaster, PA.