Elderberries

Elderberries seek to spiritually resource
older people in our Parish

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The World Health Organisation has designated 2020-2030 the decade of healthy ageing.

We are all getting older, but we live in a culture where ageing is something we try to deny. Nigella Lawson turned 60 this week. She talked about the guilt she feels at outliving her mother who died at 48. She describes how she longs to embrace growing older and rejoice in it, and is determined to do just that!
I wonder if you’ve ever thought about God’s perspective on growing older, and how the Bible would define ‘healthy ageing’? There are many accounts of people living to a ripe old age, and we know that middle eastern culture reveres old age. Verses which talk about the honour of grey hair are there, but how are we to apply them to our lives now? I think the answers lie in the way God wants us to live, throughout our lives, not just when we get older. He longs for us to:

• Love Him, wholeheartedly, and share the good news of His salvation
  
• Put others before ourselves
  
• Have the fruit of the Spirit
  
• Pray for those in need
  

To live in community and to share in the Up, In and Out of life goes a long way to ageing well. We need to encourage one another in the process, and not feel ashamed of growing older, but rejoice in it. Caraway, a city wide charity (www.caraway.uk.com), met recently and felt a call to be joyful as we grow older and serve Him. I think this is a prophetic word for us all. Carolyn Moss spoke at Sunday@3 on New Beginnings, and we were reminded of God’s love for us being new every morning - whatever our circumstances.
Esther Clift