Today—A time to re-claim our past and re-imagine our future
Opportunities: Come to Terms with our History, Identify our Gifts in New Ways, and Share our Legacy As we age, assuming our health allows us to do it, we have the opportunity to come to terms with our history, identify our gifts in new ways, and consider how we might pass on our legacy. One way of engaging this work is to see life as an accumulation of experience, skills, and reflections, and understand them in terms of a life portfolio. We come to worship or other gatherings for “meaning making” from the context of our living. Sometimes the context of our living can seem to be overwhelming in its complexity. We choose to gather because we realize that we need to have other perspectives and support in order to live fully in the context. We also know instinctively that we know ourselves and live most fully in the company of others. In our gathering we move to the holy table, which can be for us not only the holy table for Eucharist but other tables of conversation and nourishment. It is here that we can catch an even larger perspective of life, and its many dimensions, as well as reflect upon what God has been up to in creation and history, what God might be saying to us now, and where God might be leading us in the unfolding future. We are often tempted to stay on this “mountaintop” but we know that we cannot forever. We are dismissed to go back into the context of living. So we are a people of the context, a people of the gathering, a people of the table, and a people of the dismissal. As we make this journey, we also realize that we have been engaged in another set of explorations: a) Remembering b) Being reminded c) Being open to be surprised As we gather we weave together in new ways this journey of remembering, being reminded, and being surprised into what we might call a Life Portfolio. Portfolios are repositories of our significant life experiences, experiences that have informed our relationships, work, spiritual and vocational journeys, the stewardship of our resources, and the care of our emotional and physical health. We have many things in our portfolios: our early work, various transitions in our lives and work, the difficult times where our journey may not have been clear or was especially struggling, the ways we have worked through these experiences, examples of our best learning and work, and many other remembrances. Portfolios may also be filled with pictures that highlight our life or written examples of work or stories/homilies/reports/art/music we have shared or memories of significant events/people/transitions in our life or journals or a whole host of activities gracing our remembrances; the times we were reminded of a gift before us or within us, and times when we were surprised by grace and joy. Sometimes portfolios are carried in satchels or are dispersed around our offices and homes. But the creation and presence of them helps define who we are, what we value, and perhaps where and who we yearn to be. Our portfolios are not static nor do they say all that can be said about us. We learn from our successes, failures, strengths, weaknesses, hopes, despairs, and wholeness, fractures and disconnects. All of our lives are treasure troves of learning, giftedness, and wisdom. So we have opportunities to remember, be reminded, and be surprised. In our looking back, we will have the opportunity to consolidate our learning. In looking at where we are now we will have the opportunity to embrace life as it is presented to us. In looking forward we will have the opportunity to imagine some new directions for ourselves. This article originally appeared as part of a new resource Aging is Changing: A Congregational Resource for Ministry with and by Older Adults from the Lifelong Christian Formation Office and the Older Adult Ministries Task Force of the Episcopal Church. This resource is a useful tool for engaging ministry with, to and by older adults in dioceses and parishes. The Rev. Dr. Bud Holland is a priest and a member of the Older Adults Ministries Task Force of The Episcopal Church that created this resource. Visit the Older Adult Ministries page of The Episcopal Church Center for more informatio (Photo used from the Creative Commons license through Flickr)