Recently I was at a retirement banquet for one of my best friends. Sitting next to me was another retired pastor who had a brilliant academic career but who is now severely retricted because of health and hearing problems. Maybe because I am also retired, I began thinking about how the church relates to retired pastors.
If they still have a lot of energy and health, they may be asked by the larger church to take on a lot of committee tasks. If many are like me, not being on committees is one of the joys of retirement. Once your health goes, the busy church usually moves on. I wonder what God’s changing call is for retired pastors.
In some cases, I think the church loses a lot of wisdom because we don’t gather pastors together to draw upon their experience. I also know, however, that sometimes it isn’t wisdom but simply nostalgic memories. Is there a way to stimulate fresh theological thinking among the retired pastors of our community?
Perhaps more importantly, should we be gathering pastors soon after they retire and assist them in discerning God’s call in this new phase of their life? My friend who has just retired wants to take a year for intense prayer and spiritual discernment. Might some encouragement and support in that direction be good to offer many newly retired pastors.
And what about those in poor health. Is there some means of offering them spiritual support in what has to be a very challenging phase of their life. What is God’s call for someone who has lost their hearing or had to give up driving a car? Do we really think that God says, “Well, I’m done with that person. I will now focus on someone else.”
For those who have committed their life to responding in faith as one of God’s priests, is there not an important spiritual value to these concluding years of their life?
