wfn.org | Older Adult Ministry

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (374
notes).

Note 371 by UMNS on Oct. 7, 1997 at 16:27 Eastern (5304 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Green				   559(10-71B){371}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	 Oct. 7, 1997

Winter symbolizes where older adults 
are in their lives, says retired Bishop

	NASHVILLE, (UMNS)  Out of the four seasons of the year, a retired United
Methodist Bishop claims that winter is best because it is symbolic of where
older adults are in their lives.
Bishop Reuben Job, Nashville, speaking to approximately 50 workers with older
adults during a training conference here Oct. 1-4, championed the winter
season  because "Winter is wonderful. It is . . . perhaps the richest of them
all," he said. 
"Winter is filled with opportunity for growth and discovery, of challenge and
fulfillment." He said winter symbolizes the spiritual and physical place older
adults are in their lives. 
	The conference, sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Discipleship and
the Scarritt-Bennett Center focused on helping older adults find ways to cope
with changes in their lives. Discussions revolved around helping older adults
find supportive ways to redefine their goals and face issues about faith,
health, death, community involvement and retirement.
	Job applauded the conferences focus on older adults, and said, "this age
group is often overlooked by our culture."
	According to the Rev. Richard Gentzler, director of adult ministries for the
United Methodist Board of Discipleship, in the early 1900s, 4 percent of the
U.S. population was 65 and older and 40 percent was youth and children.
Gentzler was leader of a workshop that explored myths and spiritual needs of
older adults.  
In 1990, he said, 12.5 percent of the population was aged 65 or older and 24
percent was youth and children. Because society is aging and life expectancy
has reached 76 years, he said, by the year 2025 or 2030 older adults will
outnumber children and youth.  "At no other time in society has this been the
case," Gentzler said.
	As Job used the winter season to explore the mystery of life, he used the
images of a desert, a mountain and a home to illustrate the spirituality of
aging.  
	The desert comes in many forms, but every form provides a place for taking
off the unnecessary attachments of life, he said. The desert gives opportunity
for discovering lifes new essentials and it is where the illusions of life
give way to reality. The desert is a place "where we as Jesus" face the
questions of life, Job said.
	Reflecting on the challenges Jesus faced in the desert and how he "laid aside
all that to which we usually cling for security and comfort," Job encouraged
participants to see the desert as place for stripping away nonessentials and
clarifying what is important in life. 
	In society, Job said, the emphasis is placed on youth, activity, productivity
and power. But if "we buy into the culture of youth," he said, older adults
deny themselves the opportunity to face openly the "diminishment" that comes
from the desert of the winter of life. "We deny the joy of the harvest of
spiritual treasure gathered in a lifetime of living." 
	Because one in eight Americans are 65 years or older, Gentzler placed
"F.A.C.E.S." on older adult needs. He said older adults need to:
7 find worth in ones being, not through having or doing;
7 accept ones life journey and faith story;
   confront losses and acknowledge gains;
7 experience a new or renewed relationship with God through Jesus Christ; 
7 serve the needs of others (being in ministry). 
While the desert is the place for letting go, Job said, the mountain "is the
place for taking on and taking in." It is the place of transformation allowing
a rediscovery and restoration of original images. The mountain is the place
where "we meet God face to face." It is on the mountain, Job said, that
resources for lifes journey are received and where people are embraced by God
s love. 
	According to Job, seeing God face-to-face is the gift of the mountain that is
fulfilled in the image of home. He said home is a place of peace,
tranquillity, security, rest and joy. "The spirituality of aging is about
coming home and living at home with God in this world." 
	Being at home, he said, is an image that sheds light on the spiritual journey
of aging. "To be on an intentional spiritual journey is to be home with God,"
he said. That means "we" have accepted as fact that life is lived under the
reality of Gods grace, Job said.
	"The spirituality of aging is the spirituality of coming home." He said this
journey began at birth, finds fulfillment at death, and it need not be feared
or denied. "This is a journey that the church should celebrate with the same
joy at the service of death and resurrection as at the service of baptism." He
said both are gifts of God to be received with "gratitude and joy."
	Other leaders and speakers included Marvin Cropsey, Nashville, Tenn., editor
of Mature Years, a quarterly publication produced by the United Methodist
Publishing House for older adults; Naomi Winchester, Wilmington, Del., an
aging ministry consultant; the Rev. William Pierce, North Carolina, an older
adult ministry coordinator; Fred Cloud, Nashville, a human relations
consultant and mental health worker; and Florence Lund Williams, Tennessee
State Coordinator, Widowed Persons Service.
	#  #  #

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