Caring Alike for Young and Old (Ordination Rite)

The current interest in congregational development, outreach and evangelism, notwithstanding its often rather crass concern with counting heads and raising money, has given leaders a chance to step back and think about what the church is doing. Why are we here? What purpose do we serve? This sort of examination, carefully guided, can be helpful. But there are notable dangers in every direction. For instance, discerning the demographics of a parish community is now a common practice: Where do people live? What level of education do they have? How old are they? This search for objective data is often tainted by an anxiety over the looming and growing “youth” churches.

Many of our country’s newest and largest churches, which frequently have no formal denominational ties, have deliberately marketed themselves to “Generation* (I’m not certain whether they are Generation X,Y, or Z—the sociological jargon is in constant flux). Sadly, as the established churches, such as our own, look to this phenomenon, there is a temptation, to which we have indeed fallen, to see the elderly as, well, a mild impediment to growth and change. This is sometimes openly acknowledged in discussions about growth and evangelism.

Noting that approximately 30 percent of the people attending my congregation are more than 70 years old, none of whom have placed a noose around my neck or otherwise exerted undue political pressure, I have to think about the way this sector of the worshiping community is treated and talked about. My personal truth in nearly nineteen years of parish ministry is that I have found these people to be lavishly generous, openly helpful, and the greatest source of volunteer labor in both the parish and the community. Why are they, in any sense, maligned? Though I am still, among my colleagues, one of the younger clergy who might be good for reaching youth, an obligation grips me which I learned perhaps in childhood. I owe to my elders due respect and appropriate gratitude.

A healthy and growing parish will, of course, make diligent efforts to reach out to youth, singles, newly married, and young families. This is important work and a special challenge. How then are the generations to relate? Obviously, simple respect and common sense will go a very long way in helping a parish to sort this out. This theme, however, has been a subject of the ages, and we might well learn from the past. Consider these words of Cicero; place them in the context of a community, a parish:

“As the wise elderly enjoy the company of young people endowed with wonderful gifts of life and skill, their old age becoming lighter because they are respected and loved by the young, so also young people rejoice in the wisdom of their elders by which they are led to the study of virtue (a good life).” Cicero, De Senectute

Could there be a more just balance? We may, of course, invert the sequence and retain the essential truth. Often, older people are delighted by the wisdom of the young, and the young are uplifted by the life and gifts of their elders.

Finally, I arrive at an answer. Why are we here—parishes—what are we doing? Before succumbing to excessive analysis, we might find some direction in recalling, for instance, a line from the Westminster Confession: “Q. What is the end/purpose of life? A. To worship God and glorify him forever.” Before program or growth or scheme, we place the worship of God, in spirit and in truth. The church gathers to “lift up our hearts” in the presence of God. And who comprises the church, to whom are we reaching out? The Prayer Book is rather diffuse and expansive in answering this question, rather like the gospel itself. The gospel is to be preached, we are told, “to all of God’s people to the end of time.” I’m still young, too young to be a priest strangers tell me, but in my mid-forties it is easy to imagine the rapid passage of years. If the elderly are an impediment, I shall be the same. But still I take heart. Someone will remember that the church is under an absolute mandate of the gospel: to care for the young and old alike.