2015 Older Adult Recognition Day Resources

Transcription

1 2015 Older Adult Recognition Day Resources Bridging Past, Present & Future Edited by Rev. Dr. William B. Randolph, D. Min Director, Office on Aging & Older Adult Ministries Discipleship Ministries The United Methodist Church PO Box Nashville, TN Telephone: Fax: The material in this resource will provide you with information on how your local congregation can celebrate Older Adult Sunday or Older Adult Recognition Day (any day in May)

2 Bridging Past, Present, and Future Older adults are a bridge between our past and our future. Older adults serve as the collective memory of our church s heritage. In remembering the why or how things are done and God s faithfulness in suffering and triumph, older adults help us appreciate and understand our current identity. By being keepers of the past, they help keep us focused on our dreams for the future. As important as older adults are for the past, their greatest value is as a bridge to the future. These sages can provide guidance for what it means to mature in our faith. Their acceptance of death, change, suffering, and struggle with hope, dignity, and faith serves to mentor us in living faithfully. Older adults have invested their lives in building for the future, and the continuation of their life s work is dependent upon subsequent generations. Older Adult Recognition Materials WORSHIP RESOURCES: The following resources may be used in planning a worship service for Older Adult Recognition Day. Proclamation: The message should be consistent with recognizing the value of older adults. It should also be about God s gift of old age and about proclaiming the ways older adults bless God s church. It is a time to appreciate God as the giver of life and to emphasize lifelong faith formation. It is helpful to personalize this recognition during the message by naming different older adults who make up the community of faith, especially those who may not be well known. Selected Scripture and Sermon Starters: 1. Genesis 33:1-15: Jacob and Esau are reunited as older adults, and they experience God s presence in grace and forgiveness. If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably (NIV).

3 2. Psalm 139:14-16 (NIV): God s creation, ownership, and love for us and God s caring presence in all of life is present even in old age and death. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made when I was woven together in the depths of the earth All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 3. Luke 2:26-38 (NIV): Anna and Simeon are called late in life as witnesses to Jesus the Messiah and God s salvation. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. Or Luke 5:1-10; (NIV): Simon Peter and Levi (Matthew), as two older adults, are called as disciples. Although the passage isn t explicit that these two disciples were older at the time of their call to discipleship, it is implied by their positions as boat owner and tax collector. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. Follow me, Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 4. Acts 2:15-20 (NIV): The role of being a sage or visionary is given to older adults. The power of Intergenerational ministry is service, not just to older adults, but with older adults in ministry to younger people. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams Corinthians 4:7-18: This passage speaks of serving God by becoming more spiritual as we mature, even if our bodies grow frail. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. MUSIC The United Methodist Hymnal He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought UMH 128 This Is My Father s World UMH 144 I Am Thine, O Lord UMH 419 Blest Be the Tie That Binds UMH 557

4 The Faith We Sing You Are Mine TFWS 2218 I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry TFWS 2051 Worship And Song A Place at the Table W&S 3149 All My Days W&S 3011 Hymns not in Our Hymnal And Now, My Soul, another Year From Days of Early Youth, O God I'm So Glad I'm a Part of the Family of God LITURGY LITANY ONE: Call to Worship Leader: We gather today to give thanks for older adults. Children: They are gifts from God Youth: We admire those who are older than we are, for their lifelong wisdom, experience, and knowledge is something we do not have yet. All Adults: We hope that we can grow more like them. Older Adults: We remember so many who went before us and who taught us how to be faithful before God. Young Adults: We admire our older adults, not just for what they do, but for who they are as loving guides. Middle- Age Adults: We seek to follow in our elders footsteps and to become faithful like them before God. Children and Youth: We are thankful for the lessons in life older adults teach us: Congregation: The courage to overcome fear, the ability to see good in all people, what it means to forgive deep hurt, patience to wait on the Lord. Leader: We hope to become like them one day. We give thanks for the opportunity to learn from those who are the master teachers, who have mastered life and follow in the Master s footsteps. LITANY TWO: Invitation Leader: God promised Abraham a blessing in advanced age. God said I will bless you; I will make your name great; and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. God s blessings came with old age.

5 People: How can advanced years and old age be a blessing? How can God continue to use me? I wonder sometimes, especially when I see all the changes in life I have gone through. Leader: It is God s promise to Abraham and to you: In old age you are a blessing, and you will be blessed. God also promised to bless those who honor and bless you! God blesses the church through you in many ways. Let us count the ways of blessing. Children: When you tell stories, you bless me and help me grow. Youth: When you hear my dreams in life, you are a blessing to me. Young Adults: When you try to understand my struggles and do not judge me, I am blessed. Adults: When you love me and express friendship, your life is a blessing for me. All: When you set an example of how to live honorably and in praise before God, you are my blessing. Leader: When you mentor me in learning something new, using your experience, you are my blessing. All: When you face death faithfully and live courageously, you make it easier for me to do the same, and you bless me. Leader: See! You are blessed, and are a blessing in so many ways. It is just a different type of blessing, only realized in advanced years and within a community of faith. God promised to make you a blessing in your advanced years and God has. A Prayer of Invocation O God beyond all our years: Help us to remember with thanksgiving today that long life is a gift given for your whole church and not just to those who receive it. Help us to properly honor the gifts of our elders - - parents, teachers, neighbors, friends, family, who have taught us to live lives of faith. More importantly, through our worship, help us to honor you as the giver of this gift, in which you have made your love present and real through their lives. We offer ourselves in thanksgiving and worship for your blessings. Amen. A Prayer of Thanksgiving Creator God of us all, we give thanks for our older adults. We give thanks for the joy they have brought us. We thank you for the laughter and the tears we have shared with them. We give thanks for their compassion, for their teaching, mentoring, and friendship. We name memories we have made with them - - the happy and joyous ones and the painful and lonely ones - - that have bonded us closer together and to you. We name service we have shared with them that has allowed us to be a community that has drawn from an amazing array of talents, and has shaped us for your Kingdom. We name learning moments where their

6 insights have inspired ours, and where ours has inspired their learning to even greater heights. We have been richly blessed by your loving generosity in sharing these older adults with us, and we name them in our hearts and give thanks for them in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen. IDEAS FOR CONGREGATIONS FOR OBSERVING OLDER ADULT RECOGNITION DAY Panel Discussion - Form a panel discussion with older adults sharing their memories, either free form, or with standard questions. This can be a guided discussion. A unique way would be to pair multiple generations together answering the same questions to reveal how age changes our faith. This is a good time to include homebound members through the use of video. Day of Service Organize a project or special day of service to benefit older adults directly or honor ministries served by older adults. This can be a perfect opportunity to find a project that addresses older adult poverty in the community. Planned Visitation - During the week of Older Adult Recognition Day, plan to visit with older adults. Make lists of all older adults in the church who are willing to visit, along with older adults who are interested in being visited. Match the two lists (including a driver as needed so those who do not drive can participate). Matching can be random or intentional. Advocacy - Invite experts, civic leaders, and government officers to speak to older adults about such issues as dementia, depression, grief, or security. Symbolic Bridge - Construct a small bridge of cardboard or wood and display pictures of the church s older adults on the bridge along with babies, toddlers, and children who are a part of the church. Place the bridge at a common entrance of the church or near the altar. Friends In Faith Families - Assign each older person in the congregation to a Friends in Faith Family for the coming year. Ask the older person to pray for members of the family by name one day a week. Have all Friends in Faith Families and older adults gather for a get- acquainted meal and to sit with each other. Have an exchange sheet with information on significant events or days in the lives of the older adults, such as wedding day, birthday, birthdays of family members. Ask the Friends in Faith Family to send cards or visit on those dates. At the end of the year, have them write notes of what they enjoyed most about having Friends in Faith Family.

7 Spiritual Biographies - Interview older people with a list of starter questions such as: Who has been influential in your faith life and how? What do you think God is like? Has you view of God changed at various times in your life? How? What are your favorite Scriptures passages and/or prayers? After the interviews, produce spiritual biographies. The use of video or audio recording is a good way to do this; but if biographies are displayed, then all should be in the same format. Display a timeline of the subjects lives with pictures on bulletin boards or monitors in the church. You could feature the biographies as a group at the same time, or feature them individually once a month or so. Publish a biography book at the end of the year. Make sure the older adults approve their biographies before the church publishes them. Be sure, also, that each featured older adult gets a copy of the book. Older Adult Participation- Invite older adults, especially those who currently do not design, plan, or participate directly in worship, to lead, conduct, or plan a Special Older Adult Recognition Sunday. Invite older adults to serve as speakers, lay readers, greeters, and ushers. Safe Sanctuaries Check - Make sure there are no accessibility issues in your church facilities that limit full participation for those with some disability. Look specifically at the acoustics for those with hearing impairments. Use large fonts on projected screens, hymnals, and bulletins for those who may have trouble seeing clearly. Look at the number of steps into buildings and other provisions such as special parking, wheelchair friendly restrooms, and pew space for wheelchairs or walkers. Specialized Classes - Invite older adults to share their hobbies and crafts with others by asking them to teach introductory classes, either as a periodic (weekly or monthly) class or a one- time demonstration class, e.g., a cooking class. This is a particularly great intergenerational way of celebrating Older Adult Recognition Sunday. SELECTED RESOURCES - Consider giving these as gifts to older adult leaders, to your church, or to older adults. Building a Ministry for Homebound and Nursing Home Residents by Marie White Webb. Discipleship Resources, Nashville, TN (2003). This is an excellent guidebook for doing ministry with homebound people and residents in continuing care retirement communities.

8 A Deepening Love Affair: The Gift of God in Later Life by Jane Marie Thibault. Upper Room Books, Nashville, TN (1993). A classic book on spirituality in life s later years and ways to become aware of our gifts. Remembering Your Story: Creating Your Own Spiritual Autobiography by Richard L. Morgan. Upper Room Books, Nashville, TN (Revised edition, 2002). Designed for small groups, this resource encourages and guides participants through 10 sessions of life review and future direction. Designing an Older Adult Ministry by Richard Gentzler, Discipleship Resources, Nashville, TN. This is still the go- to book for getting started in older- adult ministry. It has helpful suggestions and a basic plan to get started. Pilgrimage into the Last Third of Life: 7 Gateways to Spiritual Growth by Jane Marie Thibault, Richard L Morgan. Upper Room Books, Nashville, TN. This book is designed as more than a spiritual guide to navigate the waters of retirement. It is one of the best books to help older adults think about their legacy. The Church Responds to Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of Older Adults by Joy Thornburg Melton. Upper Room Books, Nashville, TN. One issue that the church often overlooks in its ministry is elder abuse, and this book addresses how a church can respond. Winter Grace: Spirituality and Aging by Kathleen Fischer. Upper Room Books, Nashville (1998). A classic book showing how the losses that accompany aging can lead to freedom and new life. Joy Boosters: 120 Ways to Encourage Older Adults by Missy Buchanan. Upper Room Books, Nashville, TN. Joy is one of the key ingredients for good aging. This book contains a lot of practical ideas anyone can do to give the gift of joy to an older adult. Voices of Aging: Adult Children and Aging Parents Talk with God by Missy Buchanan. Upper Room Books, Nashville, TN. Interesting juxtaposition of the answers given by the adult children and their older parents to the same spiritual and life questions and then collected here. For older adults, the book helps them understand how their views have changed; for their children, it helps them understand how their views will change. Parents & Grandparents as Spiritual Guides: Nurturing Children of the Promise by Betty Shannon Cloyd. Upper Room Books, Nashville, TN. The highlight of many older adults lives is when they have and establish relationships with grandchildren. This book helps grandparents be complete grandparents and also instructs them as spiritual mentors and guides for their grandchildren. Shaping a Life of Significance for Retirement by Jerry P. Haas & R. Jack Hansen. Upper Room Books, Nashville, TN. This book is great resource to help church leaders understand what

9 retirement is like for its member retirees. It invites people going through it to think about retirement in terms of legacy and service instead of finances and leisure. WEBSITES Discipleship Ministries Older Adult Ministry resources/older- adults1 Discipleship Ministries Preaching Resources Discipleship Ministries Worship Planning planning Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network: adult- ministries- planning- guide/ Social Media Sailwaywil Older Adult Ministry Blog: Facebook: Open Groups Office on Aging and Older Adult Ministry Facebook: Closed Groups (have to apply for membership) UMC Worship: tivity UMC Preachers