Growing up I had several identities—an infant, a child, a youth and, for many years, a student. Then I joined the ranks of the employed—I was a pastor. And by that people understood that I served in a particular church, doing a ministry that could be to some degree defined. At least it had an official, written and approved job description and I was on the payroll.
But in 2006 I felt called to leave that official role, to step out of the formalized pastoral function. And at that point my identity became confused. Categories based on age have blurred these days, and in any case I did not yet fit the category commonly referred to as senior, as I was not 65. Some agencies begin that designation at an earlier age (McDonalds gives senior coffee to anyone over 55 and AARP starts sending invitations to join at something like 50), but longevity and health in our culture could argue for a later age. And Social Security has delayed the target date for reception of benefits. So, on leaving the active pastoral leadership role I did not do so as a senior.
Then there is the word retired. People naturally assumed that if I were not serving on the staff of a particular church, that is if I were not on the payroll of such, I would be retired. And being retired I would be a recipient of retirement benefits. However, that is not what Nancy and I chose. I neither applied for benefits nor sought gainful employment. In fact our prayer was that the gifts we have could be used in places that could not generally afford to pay someone to do what we would be doing. We just wanted to volunteer and to be helpful to the kingdom. But there was no category for this.
I was asked on many occasions, while filling out forms or responding to innocent queries, to indicate my occupation, and it was difficult. If I were given multiple choices, one would almost always be Retired, but none fit. I was active in ministry but not gainfully employed in ministry, a situation that seemed not to fit in any box. People would ask me what I was doing, and as soon as I said that I had moved out of the pastoral leadership role, they would assume I was retired. And the church bureaucracy assumed the same. While my home presbytery had given me the title Minister at Large, the categories recognized at the higher levels did not seem to include this. When it came to filling out certain pension-medical forms there were two options: Active or Inactive. When I inquired about the definitions of these two options the answer was simple: are you getting a paycheck from a church? If not, Inactive is the right form for you. And this despite the active ministry I am involved in while in the US, in Mexico, Ireland and Albania, plus the clear definition in our Book of Order that Inactive is a status reserved for those who have ceased to participate in the life and work of the church.
So, I was left with trying to invent a way to describe my situation, since Minister at Large carried no content to acquaintances, interested persons, or the board of the denomination. And my attempts generally made little sense to anyone. I was a person without a box to be fit into.
But all that has changed because now I am officially Retired. I have been granted that title by my presbytery and I have the evidence to prove it—a monthly pension check. I also received my first Social Security benefit check this month (I am taking it a year before officially reaching maximum benefit age) and my Medicare card says that as of February 1 I am under that umbrella. I now have a label I can be identified by—I am back in the world of the defined.
However, the curious thing is that this does not change what I am doing or why I am doing it--it is a box and a label that really does not fit me. Nor, if you look at it, does it have a place in the Christian life… For some time I would tell people who said that I must be retired that the word retire does not appear anywhere in the Bible. This is true in some English translations, but in reading Numbers in my NIV I found the word. And I checked and found that it does occur, but only once in the Scriptures. The citation is Numbers 8:25, which says about the Levites, the attendants of the Temple, at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. Now to some that may be a comfort—lower the pension age to 50! And work no longer. But I would not like that, and many others would share in my dislike. And there is more to the story in the text, for it continues in the next verse, They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the Tent of Meeting… And this I like, probably primarily because it defines this stage of life for me—a stage of helping.
One of the great challenges America is facing now and will increasingly face in the years ahead is the demographic reality of aging. People are living longer and are healthier for longer than ever before in the history of humanity. But systems are not in place to maximize the positive potentials of that change—for society, for the church or for the individuals. And part of the reason is the lack of words to describe the options of this stage. Retired has specific connotations, and those connotations are neither accurate nor helpful for many who are fit into that category. In fact the word is so misleading that I am afraid that now that I have the title I will have to spend as much time disclaiming its connotations as I did trying to explain who I was before I had it. And I know I am not alone in this quandary, as some of the people I look up to most have been retired but continue energetically to assist their brothers… That is what I am seeking to do, and while it does not provide a paycheck and is not easily defined, it is a wonderful job to have!
I have always believed that the compensation of a pastor is not pay for work done but a way of freeing someone to do what God has called and gifted him or her to do. If such is the case then Active in the pastoral ministry does not stop with and is not defined by a paycheck. And taking it one step further it is not even defined by a position in a church or an arbitrary age. The apostle Paul knew that his identity was as a servant of Christ Jesus, and I wish there were some way in which that identity could be understood and communicated today because it fits who I would like to be and who I pray I have been. And it fits not only me but countless men and women, lay and clergy, paid or volunteer, of all ages. Vocational options in many people’s minds are limited to three: Employed, Unemployed or Retired. But for the believer they are limited to one overarching and all-inclusive option: a servant of Christ Jesus. That option is the only one which accurately describes who the believer is, and it provides flexibility to accommodate all who claim the name of Christ. It is who we are to be whether we are pastors, businessmen or women, stay-at-home parents, or church office volunteers. The box is the same for all, the form it takes is what changes. It is a title that gives significance to all who bear it, and it is not a title that anyone will ever outgrow, nor a work to which we can ever apply the title Retired.
There is an old trite but amusing saying that goes, Working for the Lord may not pay much, but the retirement benefits are out of this world. Maybe the word Retired could be applied in this sense, but I doubt that it should be since while the work of eternity may not look like the work of today, it will fulfill in the grandest way the God-given need for something significant to do. And it is a work that will go on forever.
I have now reached that point in life where I am Retired. But please do me the favor of not putting me into that box, and I promise you I will do my best to keep you from doing just that. I do not receive a paycheck from anyone, but I am doing what I always have sought to do, and enjoyed doing. That work is not focused in one place with one people anymore, but the work is the same. It is rewarding and exciting, and it is something I thank God for…
No comments:
Post a Comment