Immanuel Lutheran Church, Grand Ledge, Michigan

Lent is meant for Christians to return to church and renew their faith-walk. It is sort of analogous to when the “Tax Man” declares an amnesty and invites those who are delinquent in paying to catch up. Lent is our spiritual catch-up window of opportunity.

Lent’s theme is sounded on Ash Wednesday from Joel, “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

I strive to be the same pastor to all Immanuel members and friends. However, there are 550 plus of you to one of me. Thus, as over the years the priorities of the Council change and the demands of the pastoral position develop (and I do not grow younger), I rely more on worship to connect with all Immanuel members.

But then, worship within the eternal family of God is the primary purpose God created you for and saved you for (acc. to “The Purpose Driven Life”). The Bible describes worship and learning more as the first things new Christians did.

I desire to reverse a “downward” worship trend for the sake of God’s glory. I appeal to you, in the Savior’s name and grace. If:

…you have stopped coming to church, please return before the Easter celebration;

…the weeks between worship have grown longer; please return more frequently;

Return and renewal of our faith-walk is the church’s call to every one of us: regular or irregular. For you, who will see yourself as “irregular,” returning to worship and giving is an outward sign of your inward turning to seek Christ’s face anew.

When you come, I will greet you with warmth and “open arms” for my joy will reflect that of the waiting Father.

Futurist Len Sweet observed, “Whenever something becomes accepted as a trend, it no longer is.” At the risk of turning it away, I would like to identify a trend: The new cadre of church volunteers is younger retired people.

A generation ago, the core was our homemakers. Then came the decades when “everybody” was working outside his or her homes. Now the number of homemakers is increasing as many couples try to find a way for one parent to be at home while the children are younger. Yet, the most significant social change has come in the retirement age.

With the state buying many out, GM encouraging employees to leave at 30 years or even before, schools offering retirement incentives to higher salaried staff and so forth the number of youthful retirees has grown larger. These are people in their 50’s and 60’s with health and energy, talent and gifts, and time to give for meaningful activity. In fact, to serve meaningfully is essential to our spiritual health and growth.

The Church is one of those places to serve and build up God’s people. “I took early retirement from the state in 2002, but I do a lot of volunteer work with the church. I think this midweek service is something that will serve a need in downtown,” said a member of 1^st Presbyterian Church in the LSJ on Feb. 17^th.

As I said, this is a societal trend. It is a trend for Immanuel, too. Many of our volunteers are youthful retirees. We are a permission-giving church. That means if you have an idea or a vision that you feel spiritually led to pursue and if that idea fits with our Congregation’s Vision, we will give you the green light to start a whole new thing among us. We believe the Spirit gives you gifts and leads you to use them for Christ and the kingdom.

So as you come out of the full time labor force and begin the transition to “retirement” allow serving in and through the church to be a part of your new life. All will benefit.

A RELATED PIECE

In a piece related to both of the articles above, a new book, “The Pursuit of Happiness,” lists 7 traits of happy people:

Now combine that with an older study showing that those who worship regularly live longer and healthier lives, and the wisdom of the Bible concerning worship and participation in the body of Christ are once more “proved” to have effects in this world and the world to come.