A “sunset years” dedicatory service for seniors?

Dr. Karl Lachler

Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center

As friends and relatives die do you sometimes feel you have a part in the British B.B.C. TV Serial Comedy, Waiting For God? (It makes fun of older people’s fears, foibles and frenzies.)  Being realistic do you wonder when the other shoe will drop and ask, “When will my day to die come? Will I have a good death?”

How then ought we in our seventies, eighties and nineties live with that sure approaching day of our death? Certainly not like Woody Allen’s alleged comment, “I am not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” So, what should we be and do while we wait?

We must get serious and cultivate an ongoing walk with God. We who have made it to our seventh or eighth decade can remain open to God’s continuous sanctifying work. God meant for us to consistently grow in His grace. The Psalmist said the saved person “will still bear fruit in old age,” (Psalm 92:14, NIV, emphasis added).

How about Isaiah’s steadying statement, “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you, (Isaiah 46:4, NIV). God never forsakes the elderly. Ageing is not license to stop growing!  Think about it. A seventy year old has lived 25,550 days or 613,200 hours. That makes for a mountain of good life-experiences and calls for ongoing giving thanks to God. Have you caught up on your debt?

After victory over roller-coaster faith, the Apostle Peter wrote, “But grow (be growing) in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” (II Peter 3:18, NIV). He had come to experience Jesus as “the same yesterday and today and forever,”

Some of us stifle the Lord’s sanctifying work by repeated mumblings; “I’m no good anymore,” or, “God has no more use for me.” Others spend much time imagining how they will die in some crazy accident or with an unusual terminal disease. These negativistic daydreamers end making self-fulfilling prophecies not pleasing to God but which strangely, the LORD sometimes allows to actually happen.

Secondly, we must not die before we are dead. Someone wisely wrote: “Some die without having really lived, while others continue to live, in spite of the fact that they have died, (spiritually).” That was not so for Jacob of Old Testament days. “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped, as he leaned on the top of his staff,” (Hebrews 11:21 NIV, emphasis added). No self-absorption here. Jacob, aged and physically weak enough to need a cane (Walker?), spends ebbing time blessing his grandsons and worshiping God. Jacob chose to think and act positively during his last days. He reminds me of an unknown schoolteacher who joyfully described his approaching death thus:

Some day the bell will sound,

Some day my heart will bound,

As with a shout

That school is out

And lessons done,

I homeward run.

Many churches have special dedication rituals for newborn babies. Wouldn’t it be powerfully practical if churches offered a “sunset years” dedicatory service for seniors? Under the pastor’s direction this ceremony could be held at a senior’s prayer meeting or at one of the public worship services. After sharing their testimonies and spiritual desires these seniors would gather before the Lord. Then with the laying on of hands by the elders, God would be called to give to these submissive seniors that enabling grace to make them pro-active witnesses for Jesus Christ right to the end of their days.

This suggestion fits how modern medicine prolongs the dying process. The September 2007 issue of Christianity Today has a cartoon of a man sitting on a chair at the foot-end of his open grave. He is dressed, hooked to an IV and staring at his purchased and already engraved headstone. Under the cartoon CT’s associate editor writes, “Death no longer comes quickly to the seriously ill. Even as health and life spans improve, people also live longer with the debilitating diseases that eventually take their lives.” He then quotes Stephen P. Kierman’s book, Last Rights: Rescuing The End of Life From The Medical System; “For the first time, in human history, we can anticipate our mortality. We can watch its slow approach.” But why just sit idle on the edge when we can worship God and bless others – as Jacob did?  J. I. Packer in his book Knowing God ends Chapter Two with this poem:

Lord, it belongs not to my care

Whether I die or live;

To love and serve Thee is my share,

And this Thy grace must give.

If life be long, I will be glad.

That I may long obey;

If short – then why should I be sad

To soar to endless day.There is still time to follow Jacob’s lead and make our sun setting days count right up until the count is called.

Dr. Lachlar lives in Sawyer, MI.