Celebrating age and youth

Throughout my life and ministry, I have had the wonderful privilege of being surrounded by wise older women and men who, thankfully, have not been armchair philosophers, but people who have lived life fully. They have fought the good fight, kept the faith and finished the race, and from them I have learned. I have also had the wonderful privilege of being surrounded by children with their energy and enthusiasm, often exuding insight and understanding they do not even realize they possess. What I have discovered is that there is much to be learned from both the young and the old among us.

Scripture speaks often of the importance of older persons in the community of faith and identifies many of them by name. In the Old Testament in particular, we read of people living to be several hundred years of age. Biblical scholars agree that these extremely high numbers are a way of indicating that the lives of these individuals were very rich and full. The richer and fuller a person’s life was, the higher the number! Age, however, is not the only thing that is valued in the pages of Scripture.

Jesus repeatedly focused on the children in his midst. When his own disciples attempted to send the children away — viewing them as a distraction and inconvenience — Jesus expressed both anger and disappointment. Reminding his disciples that the children were to be welcomed, he made it clear that unless one came to God’s Kingdom like a child, there would be no chance of “getting in.” Essentially, what Jesus was saying was that unless we choose to come to him as children come ~ with openness and trust, with spontaneity and imagination, with love and excitement — we will never fully experience what God has to offer.

We do best when we value what the young AND old among us have to offer, for both are gifts from God. As brilliant as Albert Einstein was, he was quick to remind people that imagination (a quality so often displayed by children) is more important than knowledge. Helen Keller, who could not see or hear, maintained that life was a daring adventure or nothing. Sadly, as we age and become weighed down by the cares of our day to day existence, we lose our sense of adventure. A wise saying that I came across years ago has stuck with me: “People do not grow old. They stop growing and become old.”

In his most recent book titled, “On the Brink of Everything,” Parker Palmer suggests: “Let’s stop talking about passing the baton to the young and let’s instead invite them to join the orchestra.” YES! A photo of an older person standing alongside a young person caught my attention recently. On the T-shirt worn by the older person were the words “Talk to old people. They know cool stuff you don’t.” On the T-shirt worn by the young person were the words “Talk to young people. They know cool stuff you don’t.” God has created us to be in community and to value the gifts of young and old alike. May we dare to start doing just that by talking with and listening to the young and old God has placed on the journey with us.