At the church I serve, we hold elder visits. Once a year, on the month you were born, you’re invited to book an appointment with an elder. The purpose of the visit is to check in on each member so that we can properly care for those entrusted to our care.
At each of these meetings, I let the member set the agenda. We hand out a questionnaire beforehand with a list of questions, and let them pick which ones they want to talk about. The questions cover a variety of topics, including the member’s walk with God, family life, work life, and church life. I’m almost always encouraged by these meetings. My main agenda is to bless each member, but sometimes they bless me more than I manage to bless them.
Yesterday, I had such a visit. Two of our older members, a married couple, came in. It hasn’t been an easy year for them. They’ve experienced a variety of trials. And yet I noticed two things about them: they were humble, and they were grateful.
They didn’t pretend to be more than they are. They were both honest about their sins and their struggles. They didn’t fake piety. They were appropriately open about what’s going in their lives, and what they’re trying to figure out. I felt refreshed by their honesty.
Despite everything that’s happened in the past year, they also expressed gratitude for each other, for the church, and most of all for God.
The meeting ended before I would have liked. They’re the kind of couple that leaves you wanting more. Later, I reflected on them.
I serve in a younger church. Most of our members are in the earlier years, facing challenges around building a marriage, parenting young children, and building a career. We don’t have many people who are on the other side of those challenges.
I’ve been around long enough to know that being older does not automatically make you holier. But when you meet older saints who have suffered, who are humble, and who continue to testify to God’s faithfulness, you can’t help but be drawn to them.
On Sundays, I frequently find this couple surrounded by younger adults. Why? I can think of a couple of reasons. First, this couple shows up at church with a ministry plan. They don’t come to passively receive; they come with an agenda to engage with particular people and bless them. But there’s another reason they’re surrounded by others: people want to be near them. They want to learn from their example and experience. They need their wisdom and encouragement.
Some people think that seniors become less useful as they get older. I couldn’t disagree more. We need more people like this couple to show others what it’s like to walk with God without pretence and with great joy, even after experiencing all that life’s thrown at them.
This couple left my office yesterday, and I gave thanks to God for them. We need more people like them. My prayer is that I might become more like them myself. They’re needed. By God’s grace, we can aim to be like them too one day: older, battered by the hardships of life, honest and humble about how far we have to go, intentional in our relationships, and testifying to the goodness of our faithful God.