Related to my last post, I wonder how many people when they read the Bible are aware of the characters ageing processes?  Do we notice that Moses or Daniel (to name but two) get to be old men before a lot of the exciting stuff happens - how many old guys do you know of who spend nights in lions' dens?  Do we inadvertently perpetuate a cult of youth or deny the inevitability of growing older because we fear we will drive away the few youthful folk we have?  Do we dis-empower or excuse from activity anyone over 35 because we fail to recognise that many, maybe most, were older before God called them?  And what might that say to those who bemoan the greyness of Baptist ministry (hey, I'm only 47 I'm really quite young!).  It's not that we don't don't need young ministers, we absolutely do, but we need also to recognise that growing older is not a reason to exclude or opt out.

I have a feeling that as life expectancies in the west have increased, and the age of majority has crept generally higher (it was around 12 in Jesus' day) we have come to see the Bible characters as younger than relatively (or even literally) they were.  That and the fact that we can move on thirty years in a few pages with minimal dating clues for our 21st century minds to recognise.

Those of us who preach maybe have a responsibility to think a bit more about the ages (actual and relative) of the characters in the stories we employ so that we don't portray either perpetual youth or relentless antiquity, neither of which is valid or helpful.

Yesterday I read through Acts 28 ahead of next week's service preparation on Paul in Rome.  I was struck by the fact that when he could no longer go to the people, he inivted the people to come to him.  This seems to suggest a ministry of/by 'shut-ins' rather than a ministry to them.  Granted Paul was not frail elderly (though he must have been into his fifites, some writers suggest early sixties, which was a good age back then) but his open-house approach is something that I suspect many could emulate.  What if rather than Roman guards it was carers and home-helps who happened to overhear talk of faith, Bible study or prayer?  What if the neighbours were invited in for coffee and genuine conversation on big questions?  My experience down south, and that of my friend who is an older people's specialist minister, is that 'ultimate questions' which often weigh heavy in the minds of older folk can best be discussed with other older folk who are, as the old hymn says 'ready to rest.'

Being shut-in rather than an excuse to opt out is a different opportunity to opt in.  Something of this will find its way into next week's sermon I think.