Blending Into the Shadows

I have two burdens on my heart for this blog. One concerns how people are left to blend into the shadows of life the older and less mobile they get. The other one is how we have a tendency to drift into the dark corners of life when we are not walking in fellowship with the Lord.

Let’s address the first. As a pastor I have spent a good deal of time ministering to senior adults in hospitals or homes. I have listened to their stories and have often thought about the real possibility staring at me that one day I may grow old and I may not be as mobile. It is not a pleasant thought. It reminds me of a conversation I had with my pastor back in Lufkin, TX many years ago.

It was a Sunday night and as he and I sat on the front pew before the start of the service he began speaking very candidly to me. He told me that some of the most lonely people in the world are retired pastors. After they retire a new pastor eventually comes to take his place and begins to build his own memories with the flock. Soon people no longer need their former pastor and soon forget about him for the most part. Life moves on. The retired pastor often has trouble at this point. The older he gets his health may become more frail but fewer and fewer former church members will stop by to visit or call to check on him though he may have spent decades doing the same things for the flock.

My pastor then looked me in the eye asked me to promise him that once he retired and I would always check in on him. I made that promise and do not want him to see his last days blending into the dark shadows of life unseen and forgotten. He has had a tremendous impact on me and therefore I want to honor that impact by not letting him be forgotten. I know the church he has pastored for over thirty years will not let that happen either.

It is a stark reminder that I am growing older too. With each passing year I can feel the effects of old age creeping on. They might not be apparent to others but I see the signs coming. One day I could be the one alone, forgotten, and no longer needed. How do I want people to treat me in those days? That motivates me want to be a better pastor.

There are so many people in society who were once productive members. They worked, volunteered, gave, sacrificed, and served their local church. Many of them wish they could be just as active as they always were yet their health fails them. Their minds may still have the want to but their bodies just cannot physically do what they once did. They do not have the energy to keep on the go and so they sit alone. They hope and pray someone will remember them and long for a phone call, a drop in visitor, or a card or letter in the mail. Days of disappointment often turn into weeks and weeks into months. Before long, years have passed and a whole new generation comes on the scene that do not even know the aging saints who gave so much of themselves and their money to the church. When their names are mentioned new members give blank stares. We must not let these people blend into the shadows. We must make some time periodically to go, to sit and to listen. We must simply remember and love. [Jn 13:34-35] We must be available to those in the shadows of life. [Matt 25:31-40]

I am also extremely burdened for those who drift away from the Lord and lurk in the shadows of life embracing their sin and the shame that comes with it in the darkness. Sinful deeds are openly done in the darkness. We think no one sees and we think we can hide our wickedness but God sees all. There is nowhere we can run from His presence. Sons and daughters of the light can even grow accustomed to living in the shadows because their deeds are evil.

I recently received a phone call from a distraught mother who was burdened for one of her children. I had preached an event for his youth group many years ago and she called asking me to pray and to call this child. I have done both but this child is still lurking in the shadows. Only God can bring him back. How easily we give up on those who drift away. It is awkward. We don’t know what to say and inevitably say too much or nothing at all. We find ourselves not really knowing what to say but James tells us, “…if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” [James 5:19-20] That is never easy to ask someone the hard questions and to confront one straying from the truth. It may not be easy but it is necessary. I have needed it in my own life many times from my wife and from a trusted band of brothers. They have often had to confront me and to ask me the hard questions. At times I have been angry and offended but on the other hand when I listened to their concerns the Holy Spirit used them to speak truth into my heart. They were used by the Lord to bring me out of the shadows. God has used many preachers and books to bring me out of the shadows into His glorious light. There is a freedom living in the light with nothing to hide. Jesus said it right, “For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” [Jn 3:20-21]

It is time to walk into the shadows to remember those who gave so much and to reclaim those who have strayed from the truth. Neither is easy or convenient but both are needed. I plead with you as you read this confront me, speak truth to me if you see me straying. As I get older I hope the Lord will call someone to remember to listen, to care. Until then, I hope I do the same for someone else. “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” [Matt 7:12]