Sunday, May 5
The Lord’s Day
Older Adult Week
Minute for Mission: Older Adults
Is there a wise older person in your life who shares life lessons? My Grandmother Sofia was a great influence on my life. These were her words to live by: “You are a child of God. Therefore, respect humanity and the earth; be kind, loving and compassionate; and do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
From the age of three until I graduated from high school at age 17, I spent every summer in Iowa with my grandparents and the other nine months at home in Michigan. I had friends in Michigan and Iowa.
Rituals were a way of life. Each day began and ended with the saying of the Lord’s Prayer. My grandparents were immigrants. Grandfather arrived in 1918, a couple years before my grandmother. She followed with the two children. One of my accomplishments was helping my grandmother study so she could get her citizenship papers—that was a very proud day for us both!
I credit my Grandmother Sofia for my passion for older adult ministry. She passed on great wisdom. My grandmother and parents made me what I am today. The wisdom Grandmother Sofia shared taught me that much is to be learned from older adults.
My experience is validated by a recently published book by Karl Pillemer, 30 Lessons for Living (Hudson Street Press, 2011). The majority of the older adults interviewed (almost 1,000) noted that the Golden Rule was their guiding principle for living. The Golden Rule comes from the Bible. There are versions in other religions as well. Dr. Pillemer says: “We must work hard to empathize with other people, to understand their perspectives, to feel as they feel, to see them as fellow travelers along life’s difficult road. Such compassion and sympathy makes it natural to treat others as we would like to be treated.”
A question each of us might ask ourselves is, who have I helped today?
—Elder Helen Morrison, president, Presbyterian Older Adult Ministry Network
Let us pray
Loving God, may we practice the Golden Rule, remembering you are with us always. Amen.
Sunday Lectionary and Hymns
Acts 16:9–15
Out of Deep, Unordered Water
PH 494
Ps. 67
God of Mercy, God of Grace
PH 203
Rev. 21:10; 21:22–22:5
The Head That Once Was Crowned
PH 149, HB 211
John 14:23–29
Come Down, O Love Divine
PH 313
or
John 5:1–9
Come Down, O Love Divine
PH 313
Daily Lectionary
Morning Psalms 93; 150
First Reading Deuteronomy 15:1-11
Second Reading 1 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Gospel Reading Matthew 13:24-34a
Evening Psalms 136; 117
