Plan B

Acts 2:1-21

May 24, 2015

Rev. Dr. Mark and Bonnie Bollwinkel

 

Mark:   Bonnie, I’ve got the perfect plan for our retirement.  We buy a little house where I can do pottery and preach on Sundays.  You can continue your work with the Alzheimer’s Association.  We’ll live close to our boys, who’ll have grandchildren for us by then.  When we are in our 90’s, active and alert, one night - after we’ve cleaned the house, paid all the bills, folded the laundry, and emptied the garbage; our wills and advanced directives will be all up to date and the tank of our car full of gas - we’ll die a natural, painless and simultaneous death together in each other’s arms during sleep dressed in clothes that won’t embarrass the paramedics and family that find us.

Bonnie:  Well, Mark, let’s talk about “Plan B”…just in case “Plan A” doesn’t work out.  We have long term care insurance, which is good, but what if something happens to one of us?  The market could tank again and our retirement funds disappear.  Even if we were in the best of physical condition, which we are not, there are physical limitations and illnesses that are much more likely as we grow older; there is no getting away from that.  Our bodies wear out!   Remember the old Arabic saying, “Humans make plans and God laughs”?  You and I both know that life is full of capricious surprises and that for some of us our denial about that just grows as we get older. 

Mark:   As important as it is to be realistic and forward thinking most folk can plan on living independently and quite actively until the end.  ”…the elderly are the fastest growing segment of the modern population…evidence also tells us that the decrepitude and incapacitation that come with age are, on average, only about the last three months of life.  Even then, studies assure us, mental clarity is more likely than not to remain to the end.”  (The Gift of Years: Growing Old Gracefully, Joan Chittister, Bluebridge, 2008, P.14)

Bonnie:  That’s why our real plan for aging, Mark, should be to become “resilient elders”.  Remember Polly Victor, with whom I worked on my Master’s thesis?  A social worker for most of her life, working with people of all ages and needs.  When she stopped working as a social worker she became an artist, sculpting and welding art from broken down pieces of farm machinery.  She had grown up on a farm. She went back to art school and was not deterred for a moment when the teacher suggested she was “too old” to take up welding.  She went out and found a professional welder who taught her what she needed to know and welded sculpture for the next twenty years.   She told me that this was how she felt about her work; that she worked with broken down people and helped them become pieces of art.  In my eyes, a resilient elder is one who never loses the spirit for life and love.

Mark:   You are reminding me of the apostle Peter in the Pentecost story this morning, Bonnie.

Here is Simon Peter, one of the first to respond to Jesus’ invitation to discipleship.  He was one of the first to say out loud that Jesus is the Christ.  He was the one who betrayed his master when he needed him the most.  He was the one who ran away back to Galilee rather than face the cross.

Yet on Pentecost, the spirit sweeps the disciples out of their fear and hiding.  They go into the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming the good news in languages unknown to them. It will be Peter who gives the first sermon in the church’s history.  Peter proclaims to the crowd gathered in amazement that he and his brothers are not drunk on wine but full of the spirit of God.  Not all will listen and believe in Peter’s proclamation.  Not all will believe that Jesus is the long waited messiah.  But that very day 3,000 are baptized and the church is born.

Not bad for a fisherman who tried to walk on water only to sink beneath the waves.  That sure would have taken away my spirit!

At the end of John’s gospel we find Jesus cooking breakfast for Peter and a handful of disciples.  They haul in a miraculous catch of fish in their nets.  Jesus says to Peter three times, “feed my sheep”.  And we hear these words foretelling that in his old age Peter will die a martyr’s death, and in fact he will.

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?  And he said to him, “Lord you know everything. You know that I love you.  Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.  Truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.”  (This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God.)  And after this he said to him, “Follow me.”  (John 21:17-19)

 

Was he doomed by his mission to follow Jesus?   Or were the last years of his life so important, so spirituality empowered…his witness to the reign of God’s love, peace and justice so significant...that the authorities had to put him to death on a cross of his own?

Peter’s “retirement years” were his best.   He finally found God’s true spirit within.  He found his true voice and he grew closer to God and his neighbors each and everyday.

Bonnie:  So...are you suggesting that we should all aim to die a martyr’s death, Mark!!??  (to the congregation) -  Now you know what its like to live with a preacher!

Mark:   No, Bonnie what I am suggesting is that with Pentecost spirit the elder year’s are not a death sentence but a life sentence.

Bonnie:  Now that is true!   Chittister also writes:

…the last phase of life is not non-life; it is a new stage of life…there is no such thing as having only one life to live…every life is simply a series of lives, each one of them with its own task, its own flavor, its own brand of errors, its own type of sins, its own glories, ….designed to lead us to the same end, happiness and a sense of fulfillment. (Chittister, pp. xi-xii)

“The task of this period of life…is not simply to endure the coming of the end of time.  It is to come alive in ways I have never been alive before.”  (Chittister, p. xv)

“This is the time of coming home to the self.”  (Chittister, p. 10)

 

Our culture so often dismisses the elder years of life as insignificant. But this is a lie.  I don’t understand why so many people believe it!

Mark:   This is what is so compelling about the mission of programs such as the Carmel Foundation.  This is why this church can become a significant resource for aging.   It’s a community where we can all grow, learn and shine no matter our age.

Bonnie:  It is not uncommon in my work to run into folk who have denied the process of aging all along.  As an example, how many of you have planned for the day you will stop driving?  Don’t raise your hands!

I remember Otto when I worked as an outreach worker on skid row in Sacramento.  I found Otto in the single residency hotel.  I was warned that he would hit me if I got too close to him.   He was laying in his bed.  There was an open package of sweet rolls on the bed with cockroaches crawling all over it.   To make a long story short, I was able to connect with Otto to the point where I could ask him, “If you ever got old, and couldn’t take care of yourself any more, what would you do?”   He quickly answered, which surprised me.  That he would go to an old soldiers’ home.   He was 86 years old when I asked him that question.   He had lost his veteran’s benefits because he had lost his glasses and could not read his mail.   I was able to get his benefits reinstated and move him to Yountville VA home where he was able to live in dignity for his last four years.

     
When I grow up I want to be a resilient elder!   Like so many of the resilient elders we have met along the way, like so many of them here at Church of the Wayfarer.  I love these defining words from Mary Pipher, Ph.D:
 

The resilient old have discovered independently the same truths that acceptance is the key to serenity, and gratitude is the key to happiness.

The resilient old have reasonable expectations.  They have learned to tolerate frustrations and limitations.

The resilient old assume responsibility for their own choices…and they don’t have a lot of expectations for how others behave.

The resilient old have chosen to respond with compassion rather than anger and despair.

The resilient old have strong spiritual beliefs.  They believe in something larger and more transcendent than their own egos.

The resilient old…want to be loved, respected and useful.  They want to have fun, and develop their talents.  The resilient old have relationships, ways to be useful in their communities, ways to relax, ways to develop their potential and ways to feel respected.  (Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of our Elders, Mary Pipher, Ph. D., Riverhead, 1999, pp. 244-246)

 

Mark:   On this Pentecost Sunday we think about an aging Peter who along with Paul and the other apostles ended up leading a movement that changed and continues to change the world.   The spirit doesn’t stop working on us when we hit 65!  In fact, aging can be the start of many new beginnings.

Bonnie:  We don’t have to wait to start Plan B.  We can start now by changing our attitude about out own aging.  Aging is a part of God’s plan for us and we can accept it, take responsibility for our part in it and thrive together in God’s love.

 

Amen.

 

 

"Mobilizing Hope"

Matthew 5:3

 

May 10, 2015

Mark S. Bollwinkel

           

 

 

For years scholars have debated the distinction between our New Testament scripture for this morning from the Beatitudes found in the gospel of Matthew,  "...blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven..." with Luke's version of the same words, "...blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." (Luke 6:20).  

            The gospel of Matthew consistently presents the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Hebrew expectations for a new Messiah while the gospel of Luke emphasizes the revolutionary consequences of Jesus' life, death and resurrection for social transformation, especially for Gentile peoples.  Academics have suggested that the writer of Matthew is concerned about spiritual poverty while the writer of Luke is concerned about social justice.

            These are fascinating discussions for the classroom but for us every day folk the distinction between "blessed are the poor in spirit" vs. "blessed are the poor" may seem like a matter of semantics.  Not that that's unimportant.   

Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet were members of two rival clans.  Although sworn enemies they fall in love in Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”.  Juliet asks:  "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." (Romeo and Juliet, II, ii, 1-2)  It’s a classical insight into the power and meaning of words.  While Romeo is her father’s enemy, to Juliet he is her love.  One name...one word…representing two entirely different meanings.

            Anthropologists have long argued that the ability to communicate abstract concepts through language is one of the characteristics that distinguishes human community.   But that doesn’t mean that we always get language right.  

            This collection of actual church bulletin and newsletter bloopers continues to get circulated around the internet:

 

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

 

Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. Please use the back door.

 

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What Is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

 

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

 

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

 

A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

 

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double doors at the side entrance.

 

Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack's sermons.

 

            All to illustrate the power of language!

So “Blessed are the poor” or “Blessed are the poor in spirit”?  Was Jesus speaking about social poverty or spiritual poverty?

            Most of us know people of significant wealth who are miserable spirituality.   Some of us know materially poor folk who are wealthy in all the things that really matter in life; love, compassion and spirit.   Whether "poor" materially or spirituality, God's love revealed to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus addresses our greatest emptiness and yearning.  On that the two gospels agree.

            But in saying that, let’s not succumb to romantic notions of the dignity of poverty and the corruption of wealth.   However spirituality mature, there is nothing simple about not knowing if your children are going to eat tomorrow or if there is a safe place to sleep at night.   And just because we are rich doesn't mean our souls are automatically bankrupt.  [As a reference, I define "the rich" has anyone living on more than an annual income of $ 9,733 a year, which is the gross average income of an earthling (Gallup, 12/14)]   In our biblical traditions, both social status...poor or rich...offer unique spiritual challenges.

              "Blessed are the poor...blessed are the poor in spirit..."?   Our celebration of family and home on Mother's Day gives us an opportunity to explore Jesus' words by asking the question “Why would either poverty be a blessing?”

            Today in the United States, 26% of all children are raised by a single parent (US Census Bureau); 41% of all births are to unwed women (Center for Disease Control).  Such statistics describe huge changes in our economic structures and social mores but before we add our value judgments to such numbers consider the typical single parent (US Census Bureau):

-84% are women

-45% have been divorced

-80% are employed

-40% are 40 years old or older

-27% live in poverty

-only 24% receive government assistance

            The typical single parent in the USA is a working Mom.

 

            Do you know the story of Janet Jones and her son National Football League star James Jones?  He played seven years and won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers and has recently signed a contract with the Oakland Raiders.   He comes from a Bay Area family.  More than twenty years ago, the Jones family had to live in local family shelters as they became homeless.   Mr. Jones had to live with his grandmother for quite some time as his Mom worked multiple jobs to keep the family going. The Jones family regularly visits with other families at the San Jose Family Shelter to encourage them and support the program in part because they were once residents there.   James Jones' 'rag to riches' story inspires us all and points to the power of a loving parent. 

Jones and his wife Tamika have set up a foundation to help children in poverty living in the Green Bay Wisconsin area.  "Growing up in a homeless shelter has helped me be a better man and appreciate the little things a lot more.  Any time I can help and give back to kids, I try to do that."  In spite of the challenges of his up-bringing, he remains deeply committed to his family.  "Every time I go open my locker, I could be having a bad day or a bad practice but you look at the family and it puts everything in perspective.  I truly am blessed."  (Simon Evans, Reuters, 2/2/11)

            He credits his mother for keeping him on track by her example and faith. 

            The cynical among us might be quick to dismiss such a sentimental illustration.   After all the numbers of those able to pull themselves out of poverty through professional sports is miniscule.  It may seem easy to count your blessings when everything has gone your way.

            But the same devotion, courage and faith can be found in millions of families all over the world who count on the women in their lives to survive and grow.         Such women rarely make the headlines but it is the same hope and faith that drives them to provide the best for their children as did Janet Jones for her James.

            How can poverty...spiritual or material...end up being a blessing?

            Eugene Peterson may have framed it best in his paraphrase of our Beatitude for this morning:

You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope.  With less of you there is more of God and his rule.  (The Message, NavPress,2007)

 

            For the entitled and privileged, such as you and me, it takes a lot to get through our illusions of self-sufficiency to the point when we really need God in our lives.  When it happens, however it happens, it is a blessing indeed!   And in that sense, "poor" or "poor in spirit", may be an artificial distinction.

            Julia Ward Howe, author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was the first American to propose the recognition of Mother’s Day.   ​She had seen the worst of war first hand, not only for the combatants but for the survivors on both sides.  She saw the social and economic devastation following the Civil War and was appalled as the world rose up again in the Franco-Prussian War not long after.   In 1870, she called for women to gather for a global meeting to oppose war in all of its forms.  She dreamed of a day when women of all languages and cultures would recognize that which they had in common was more important than what divided them and commit to finding peaceful solutions to problems.  

            Julia Ward Howe would fail in her idealistic attempt to unite the women of the world for peace.  But years later, the daughter of her friend Anne Jarvis would succeed in organizing the first Mother’s Day in the state of West Virginia (1907).  The tradition caught on and President Woodrow Wilson would make it a national holiday in 1914.  

            Of course by then it had been sanitized of any overt agenda for social change.

​            Today Mother’s Day in the United States is the number one day for greeting card, flower and restaurant sales and second only to Christmas in gift giving. (about.com/women’s history) [This is not to suggest that appreciating the positive women in our lives is not a good thing to do…it is…everyday….I love you Mom!]

            Maybe to reclaim the purpose of Mother's Day and take in the meaning of our Beatitude this morning, wouldn't be appropriate for those of us who are rich to give a gift to those who are poor in honor of the special women in our lives?

            Even if it’s simply a financial a donation to programs like The Gathering Place in Monterey, a homeless women’s shelter or simply taking your rummage items to Joining Hands  so they can transform it into dollars for homeless programs in our area.

Do something good for somebody else.   If you had a loving parent and a nurturing family, they did...and are most probably still doing...that for you.

            After all, whatever the state of our own poverty, isn’t love ultimately the true definition of our wealth?

 

Amen.

 

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