Not long ago, an older friend had to move from her apartment in an independent-living center to go to a skilled nursing facility over an hour away. She is almost 100 years old, and her vision has worsened greatly over the span of the last year. On the day she was scheduled to leave, she told her friends that she would have lunch with them one final time before leaving with her niece. However, when lunchtime arrived, she did not come. As her friends began to show concern about her whereabouts, a staff person finally told them that their friend had quietly left earlier in the day.
Older Adults Are Vital To 'Vital Congregations'
I’d like to be a fly on the wall of the Tampa Convention Center during the United Methodist Church’s General Conference which begins April 24. If I could, I would make myself practically invisible and just listen to the 900-plus folks who will gather to consider modifications in church law, policy and resolutions.
Epworth "Grand Camp" Fosters Special Bonds
A grandmother paused while her 9-year old grandson tried to scoop up sand with his bare feet. For the last half-hour, they had been strolling along the wide beach of the Atlantic, feeling the mist on their faces and picking up sea shells. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so free to enjoy her grandson in the beauty of nature.
Over the years she had traveled many places with all three of her grandchildren. They had ridden horses in the mountains and amusement rides at Disney World. One summer they had squeezed eight family members into a three-bedroom condo for a week-long romp at the beach. But this outing was different.
Senior Adults Shouldn't Pass the Baton Too Soon
When I was in high school, I enjoyed spending spring afternoons at my brother’s track meets. He ran several individual events, but I especially liked watching his relay team.
Standing in the Footsteps
At last year’s Ash Wednesday service, my husband and I sat behind an older couple who had been our friends since we first joined the church thirty years before. The elderly pair had served in every imaginable church leadership position during their long lives. Even at age ninety-one, he still taught their adult Sunday school class. She had belonged to the same Methodist congregation since birth.
Fears of Aging
A few weeks ago I received a Christmas letter from a long-married couple in their nineties. I had to smile when I came to a particular sentence. “This year we managed not to be patients in a hospital," they wrote. For some readers, it might have seemed an odd thing to mention in a holiday card. But to those adults who are already in that late season of life, my friends’ proclamation made perfect sense.
Bring All Generations Together for Missions
When I was a teenager back in the 1960s, our youth group’s mission efforts were pretty much limited to local projects. We would pile into several family station wagons and caravan to the home of an elderly person on a fixed income whose home needed repair. Some of us would scrape and paint the home exterior while others trimmed overgrown trees and shrubs, washed windows and pulled weeds.
Understanding Role of Older Adults in Church
Not long ago I was talking with the chairperson of adult education at a vibrant United Methodist church in a fast-growing suburban city. She mentioned that currently their fastest-growing Sunday school class is the oldest senior adult class, which has several members in their 90s. But she said that some of the newest members of the class are not in the 75-plus age bracket, as you might expect; several are three or four decades younger than the oldest member in the class.
Is Anyone Asking for Wisdom?
My 98 year-old friend had a twinkle in her eye and a sly grin on her face. “Isn’t it odd that people talk about the wisdom of us old people, but no one asks for it?”
I almost dropped my fork. Her question was both blunt and unnerving.
