Growing Old

I returned last night from a 2-day visit 'down south' to visit my mother in Rugby and my aunts in London. Both my mother and one of my aunts are currently in nursing homes. Such visits inevitably stir something deep within, not least because in 20 years (or less) it could be me! You see the love and the tenderness of many staff; the resolve and compassion of family members who visit; you are also aware of the sometimes casual even indifferent attitude of some staff for whom, it appears, this is just a job. You are also very aware of the former lives of residents: one such at my aunt's home had been a high-court judge. He still had the booming voice with which he would have commanded a court room; but now he was raving and physically frail, attended by a devoted wife who soothed and comforted him.

Care of the elderly, in a rapidly aging population as 'baby boomers' like me retire, is the elephant in the room as far as our nation and its economy are concerned. It is not talked about nearly enough, and government seem to be leaving the matter to market forces, with the result that some people are growing rich out of care homes but generally people are struggling to cope - especially those who are retired themselves and find themselves looking after even older parents often alone.

Coincidentally, on Thursday, the Archbishop of Canterbury used his final speech in the House of Lords as ABC, to highlight this issue. He spoke of how society tends to regard old people as a 'problem', waiting to die in a country 'frenetically oriented towards youth.' I guess it is an inevitable consequence of a allowing personal success and fulfilment to take precedence over communal values. Surely this is an area where the Church has something to say - and to demonstrate. By our valuing of the wisdom of age, by not disallowing older people from participating in the life of the local church and - just maybe - by Christian entrepreneurs entering the care-of-the-elderly market place, we could witness to the ageless God. By coincidence, I read this morning that in God's new heaven and new earth, 'Those who live to be a hundred will be considered young'! (Isaiah 65.20).

So the question is: how can we value the elderly in our own 'community of blessing'? Indeed, how can we bless them?