Newspaper Columns by Bishop Paul V. Marshall
God raised the retirement age long before Social Security did
By Bishop Paul V. Marshall
July, 2005God raised the retirement age long before Social Security did.
Three travelers come to the home of the childless couple Abraham and Sarah Genesis 18). In keeping with the standards of hospitality of the time and place, where the duty to protect strangers was absolute, Abraham offers them shelter and food.
As conversation goes on, the frequently asked question comes up. "Got any kids?"
There were no children.
Years before, God had promised Abraham and Sarah many descendants. Abraham was to be the father of many nations, with offspring too numerous to count.
Abraham was now in his 90s and Sarah in her 80s, as the Bible tells it. It looked to him like that question was settled.
The traveler's reply is startling. He says he will be back in a year and, by that time, a child will be born to the couple.
Sarah, listening through the tent flap, laughs bitterly. She gets right to the point: "After my husband has grown old and I am old, shall I have pleasure?"
If we take the story on its own terms, what is contemplated is remarkable biologically, psychologically, and aesthetically.
There was a dilemma. If God's promise to Sarah and Abraham was going to mean anything, they were going to have to overcome a hesitation that was certainly reasonable. The story in Genesis is that they got together and, from their act, God got a people started. Their child, Isaac, was named for the laughter-the joke was on them.
In times more recent than those of Abraham, a man in his 80s called a reluctant church to the Second Vatican Council-a council that shapes the lives of Roman Catholics and every mainline protestant Christian today. Who would have expected that John XXIII, a genial old man seen by many as having been elected to be an interim caretaker, would open such windows?
God, that's who.
The average age of active Christians is higher now than at any time. I suspect that would be true of other religious groups as well. Religious Boomers and their parents are facing the realization that if their faith and values are going to be available to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, they are going to have to get or stay busy in programs of evangelism and church growth. We are not all young, agile or hip anymore, but there is nonetheless a call before us with an urgency that has not been felt since the revival period of the 1820s.
Most of us who read these words are not in our first youth, either. The reality, lived in our communities daily, is that God raised the retirement age long before Social Security did. We can still be agents of blessing to many if together we take creative action, trusting that when Jesus, now about 2000 years old said, "I am with you always," he meant that for all people of all ages.
Ethel, a friend in her late 70s from Florida recently wrote to my wife: "Ask Paul why the independent churches are growing and the traditional churches are not." My original answer was, "Because they really want to."
After thinking about Sarah's laughter behind the tent flap, I want to change that answer. "Because they believe they can and are willing to do what they have to do to get results." They are willing to address the culture as it is, and they do not wait for people to come to them.
Will history remember the grey heads of our day as having met the crisis with extra effort, trusting God for the results?Return to the index of Bishop Paul's columns for the secular press
Home Site Map Please direct any questions or comments to the webmaster@diobeth.org
