{"id":1621,"date":"2009-09-09T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2009-09-09T00:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=1621"},"modified":"2018-09-03T04:07:42","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T04:07:42","slug":"hale-preaches-on-the-grace-of-growing-older","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2009\/hale-preaches-on-the-grace-of-growing-older\/","title":{"rendered":"Hale Preaches on the Grace of Growing Older"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"NOAC 2009
\nNational Older Adult Conference of the Church of the Brethren<\/h2>\n

Lake Junaluska, N.C. — Sept. 7-11, 2009<\/h2>\n

<\/h6>\n
Sept. 9, 2009<\/strong><\/h6>\n
Preacher: Cynthia L. Hale<\/strong><\/h6>\n
<\/h6>\n
\"\"
Cynthia L. Hale preached for the Wednesday evening sermon at NOAC on the theme, “Living My Life Like It’s Golden–Growing Older Gracefully.” For more photos of worship at NOAC, click here.
Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Text for the sermon: Isaiah 43:15-21, 65:16-25<\/em><\/h6>\n

Calling to mind the challenge at Gilgal, the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hall repeated the retelling of holy history that Joshua gave to the people.\u00a0 Reminding all how the people had quailed at the prospect of entering into the Promised Land, she recalled the story of\u00a0Caleb–over\u00a080 years old and\u00a0ready to act on the promises of God.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can remember as if it were yesterday when I received my AARP card,\u201d said Hale, who is a church planter and founding pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Ga.\u00a0 \u201cI was officially a senior citizen. I don\u2019t know why I was so reluctant to admit I was aging. I wanted to be young forever, but that\u2019s not reality. From the moment we are born, with every passing day, we grow old.\u201d<\/p>\n

She emphasized that we get better with life. \u201cI can\u2019t wait until my hair turns white,\u201d Hale continued. The author of Proverbs\u00a0compares grey hair to a crown, she reminded the congregation. Emphasizing how much she is enjoying her crown of years, she asked the congregation if they are ready to claim the blessings God has planned for them.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s time to let go of the fantasy of being eternally young to embrace the new life with unlimited possibility and blessing,\u201d Hale said.<\/p>\n

Speaking with great dynamism and energy, she outlined the significance of the later years.\u00a0\u201cIf you don\u2019t believe me, ask Caleb,\u201d she said, and then spoke of the leadership the aging Caleb gave to a younger generation. Caleb and Joshua had been the two who had never wavered in their faith that God could make all things possible. The previous generation had not listened to Joshua and Caleb. Their hearts had melted with fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know that fear paralyzes you and robs you of your possibilities,\u201d Hale said. \u201cFear will keep you from moving on with your life\u2026. All of the people of that generation died in the wilderness.\u00a0 \u2026.So what are you afraid of?\u201d\u00a0Though she listed many legitimate fears associated with age, she said that many fears are not connected to reality.\u00a0\u201cWhen we have Christ in our life we have the courage to live fully until the day we die,\u201d she said.\u00a0 Courage is not the absence of fear, she insisted, but allows us to push on despite our fears.<\/p>\n

Though we are tempted to wish things were the way they used to be, Hale said we are to help make it the world the way it ought to be.\u00a0\u201cCaleb did not magnify the problems,\u201d Hale said. \u201cHe magnified God.\u201d And she continued, \u201cAt every age we experience physical change. We may not be able to hop out of bed the way we used to, but who wants to hop out of bed anyway? We can stay in bed as long as we want!\u201d<\/p>\n

Eighty percent of seniors have no limitations in navigating daily tasks, she said. \u201cLimitations do not stop us unless we allow them to stop us.\u00a0 We can face any and all challenges if we have faith and trust in God. With God nothing is impossible.\u201d\u00a0She encouraged her listeners to trust in God and prepare for the whole new life God is planning for all.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many become retiring and tire. They ask, \u2018I wonder if there\u2019s more?\u2019 Of course there\u2019s more. Didn\u2019t Jesus say I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly?\u201d<\/p>\n

Our lives should consist of a series of lives–\u201ca plethora of possibilities\u2026 We live our lives in season, and each season is a mosaic that is part of a whole. And every season of our lives has been woven into a tapestry, weaving the old and the new to create a perfect you.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Frank Ramirez is pastor of Everett (Pa.)\u00a0Church of the Brethren.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

——————————————————————————–
\nThe News Team for the 2009 National Older Adult Conference is led by Eddie Edmonds, and includes Alice Edmonds, Frank Ramirez, Perry McCabe, and staff Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, who serves as director of News Services for the Church of the Brethren. Contact <\/em>cobnews@brethren.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NOAC 2009 National Older Adult Conference of the Church of the Brethren Lake Junaluska, N.C. — Sept. 7-11, 2009 Sept. 9, 2009 Preacher: Cynthia L. Hale Text for the sermon: Isaiah 43:15-21, 65:16-25 Calling to mind the challenge at Gilgal, the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hall repeated the retelling of holy history that Joshua gave to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,214,300],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-1621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-church-of-the-brethren","tag-everett-church-of-the-brethren","tag-national-older-adult-conference"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1623,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621\/revisions\/1623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1621"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=1621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}