Aging sermon ideas
The poignant and inevitable process of growing older, aging is a pilgrimage toward the City of God with opportunity for sanctification along the way. In intergenerational communities, praying, preaching, and ministering to and with those who are aging is a part of the life of a congregation. We can preach, pray, and do ministry with those of all ages, including those who are aging.
What does the Bible say about aging?
- Genesis 25:8, Abraham's death
- Leviticus 19:32,"You shall rise before the aged, and defer to the old; and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord"
- Psalm 103:15-17, mortals are like grass
- Isaiah 46:4, even when you turn gray I will carry you
- 1 Corinthians 15:19-22, alive in Christ
- 2 Corinthians 4:16, our inner nature is being renewed
- Philippians 3:20-21, citizenship in heaven
- 1 Timothy 5:1-2, how to speak to elders
- Revelation 21:2, the holy city came down from heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband
- "Luke's first two chapters are a metaphorical retirement home for elders who are 'looking forward to the consolation of Israel.'" Sermon Preparation or Illustration by Thomas G. Long from The Christian Century
Sermon ideas about aging
Poignancy of aging
Like everybody else, Christians note the poignancy of aging. Joints ache. Parents and friends die. Upper register music sounds screechy. We know a time is coming when almost nobody on earth will understand who we were or what we wanted. Meanwhile, spring is especially depressing, writes William Willimon, especially when you "see young lovers walking through apple blossoms." You feel yourself getting older. "You have more yesterdays on your account than tomorrows. . . . there are more doors closing behind you than opening in front of you." He adds that it was in just this frame of mind that, one day, King David stepped out onto his balcony and spotted Bathsheba.(Willimon, William.Sighing for Eden: Sin, Evil, and the Christian Faith.Abingdon, 1985, 129)
From Shakespeare
One response to the poignancy of aging is in Act 5, Scene 5, lines 24-28 of Shakespeare's Macbeth:
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
that struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
and then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing.
Rejecting such despair, the people of God acknowledge plainly that "the days of mortals are as the grass of the field" but then we add, just as poignantly, that "the steadfast love of the Lordis from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him" (Ps. 103:17). Life is not "a tale told by an idiot" but a drama of a living body of people — a body with many parts, in a drama with many parts to play. This is a tale told by God and signifying everything of final importance in this life and in the life to come. It's the drama of the tragic fall of human children and of how a resourceful God has come among them to lift people who have fallen and place them on their feet, and to do it for no reason other than his own chesed, his own lovingkindness.
Everlasting love of God
The only meaning our lives have is a meaning conferred by this everlasting love of God. This is the love that has planted the generations, cultivated and delighted in us, worried over us and worked among us when we were laid low, and which one day comes for us not as a grim reaper to cut us down but as a faithful gardener who wants to transplant his trees to a place where their leaves shall never wither, a place where their leaves can be for "the healing of the nations." These are lives that gain whatever meaning they have in being treasured by God and then in being spent to increase the Divine pleasure. These are lives that actually bless God Himself: "Bless the Lord, O my soul."
Role of people among their gods
Isaiah 46:4 reverses the role of people among their gods. Isaiah was amused by the gods of neighboring nations who had to be toted out of town ahead of enemies. Take divine Nebo off the wall carefully, so he doesn't fall on his divine nose, pack him up, and haul him away on a buckboard. Israel's enemies had to carry their gods. But as John Timmer once stated in one of his gleaming sermons, Israel's God carries Israel, so that the big question in any religion becomes, "Who is carrying whom?"
Christians may be unintimidated about their belief in the life to come, when the "new Jerusalem" descends to earth and God's dwelling is with us. This is not "pie in the sky by and by" but a solid hope of a solid new heaven and earth. Aging is a pilgrimage into this hope. With a destination wedding in their future (the city of God is "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband") Christians may age with poise. They are headed for a future more glorious than they can imagine.
Virtues of Christ
Meanwhile, the call for aging Christians is to put to death whatever needs to die — impurity, evil desire, greed, idolatry — and to clothe themselves with the virtues of Christ — compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and love. The call to die and rise in this way is the call to preparation for entry into a new heaven and earth where vices are unwelcome and, finally, irrelevant within a setting full of light and full of wonder.
Worship ideas about aging
"Intentionally including older adults in ministry helps congregations keep the promises made at baptism: To do all in their power to love, support and encourage the person being adopted into God's family—regardless of age." Article about Worship and the Sacraments by Joan Huyser-Honig from Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
"Good aging manifests itself a spirit which rises above external circumstances, praying for the grace not simply to endure what must be endured, but for the grace to move through adversity to a deepening of spirit and the will to reach out to others in need." Article about Theology by Harvey H. Potthoff from Religion Online