Grateful...

Every day I thank God for the people who use both their time and/or treasure to stand with me in the battle for our frail elderly. Never before in recorded history has there been such slaughter of the very young and the very old.

People of the "baby boom" generation would be prudent to anticipate a future in which they very well may face euthanasia as their end, not for someone else but for them personally.

Funding for elderly programs are being slashed. Attrition rates among professional caregivers, i.e, doctors and nurses specializing in the care of elders is unprecendented. Many nursing homes struggle just to meet the very basic needs of the people under their care, and the turnover rates among staff reach 300%. Imagine the profitablility of your business turning your staff over three times this year!

As people of faith, now is time to critcally evaluate church programming and ask if it reflects God's heart or the utilitarian thinking of our youth idolizing culture. Churches that market to youth do so with the sincere belief that they are ensuring their continued future. However; rather than ensuring their future they have cut themselves off from any future. Unwittingly this belief system leads to an endorsement of a secular consumerism that teaches all generations that our value and our capacity to make meaninful contributions to the group decreases with age. The ultimate conclusion is that we then have aligned ourselves with groups who endorse physician assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia.

The future lay not in our youth but in our elders. The older person carries is walking library of full of information, education, and experience culminating in what we call "wisdom." We of the younger generations need to have access to those libraries. Those libraries are built on strong foundations of traditions and values. Rather than being demoted and excused from our circles they must transfer that libragy before they pass away.

Numerous studies show that contributions and church involvement are waning. Why? Those values and traditions have not been successfully transferred. Generational segregation leads to the demise of future generations.

"Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee." Deuteronomy 32:7 KJV.

For the younger generations we must "...remember...consider...[and]...ask..." For our elders they must, "...remember...consider...shew...[and]...tell..."

The current dilemna we face is that those traditions and values not transferred are lost in a generation that was successfully taught, and is now convinced that they have no meaningful role in the day-to-day life of the congregation. Instead, they believe thier purpose is to "get out of the way." The role of the elder is to take "bus tours" and attend "luncheons."

So what can we do?


First, we need to de-emphasize age segregrated events and promote intergenerational contact. Forget, the youth group vs. the "old timers" group vs the "middle aged" group and so on. We would never ever consider segregating a congregation by race or ethnicity. Why do we think that segregrating the congregation by age, (ageism) is any less wrong or deadly for that matter? Develop programming that encourages people of all ages to mix and "bump" shoulders.


Second, design corporate worship services that embrace all generations. Of course, I am well aware of the "lightning rod" called worship. I have served on worship committees and nothing is more divisive than determining worship styles and music. Everyone knows the "right" way to worship, it's "my way." Regardless, we must be courageous. If we cowar and refuse to move away from ageist worship other intergenerational efforts will falter. When the "sacred cow" is laid to rest, the people will know ageism is a matter to take seriously.


That's it... well one more thing... Esteem your elders with the same energy you esteem youth. Teach people the value of and the role of the elderly in your congregation, and in our society. Avoid the negative stereotypes of "stuck in their ways," "senile," "unable to learn," "weak," and so on. The media present them this way all the time, but not you.


I hadn't planned on writing this long article but it was on my mind. I am deeply saddened, as I watch funding for elder programs being cut with increasing frequency, idealogies being presented that depict the elderly as being less than human, having little or no purpose, and certainly not worth the billions of dollars we are spending to care for them.
Thank you, for listening to me today, and thank you for helping me to get these kinds of messages out.