"When the Lord saw that he had gone to look, God called to him from within the bush." (Exodus 3:4 NIV)
At age 80, Moses was willing to go out of his way to hear God and he was willing to begin a new adventure for Kingdom’s sake. I’m thinking of my 77 year old father-in-law; his idea of adventure is a trip to the local home improvement store. I’m wowed again by God’s ability to shake us from complacency and awaken us to Kingdom tasks.
We’ve lead pastored for a little over five years now, but the bulk of our ministry experience still lies with students. We graduated youth group but didn’t leave the building for another twenty years. Moving into adult ministry, we’ve had to adjust our thinking a bit. There are two major differences between student ministry and what we affectionately call ‘Big Church’ ministry. 1) The size of their problems and 2) their propensity for change.
Let’s talk about problems first. Teenagers have problems. They have an issue with a teacher or their parents. They’ve been dumped or they are pining for someone who hasn’t yet noticed they have a pulse. They’re anxious: not so much about major life decisions (spouses and careers and self-actualization are vague notions not yet on the horizon) but about social situations, academic and extra-curricular pursuits. They feel pressure from the adults in their lives, but they’d still really like to be a kid and take it easy as much as possible.
Adults, on the other hand, have way bigger problems. The drama is still there, interrelational challenges with parents, children, spouses and siblings are often just under the surface. Add an impossible-to-please boss to that equation and a mortgage dependent upon career success and it gets overwhelming. Adults are trying to make peace with their past as they keep an eye on the future. (How am I going to retire? What does this diagnosis mean for my family? Will my children love God like I do?) Adults deal with the ugliest life has to offer: abuse, injustice, betrayal, cancer and death. (Students may face these things too, but it’s the exception, not the rule.)
The second big difference between youth ministry and adult ministry is their propensity for change. Teenagers are open to change, even cooperative with change. Change is inevitable for the young person and it has been since their birth. Most of the time, they even welcome it. Teenagers have promoted their way through life thus far; from crawler to walker to pre-K to kindergarten to elementary to junior high to high school. Year after year, they have begun again with a new teacher and new school clothes. Daily, they look in the mirror and discover a transforming image as they make their way from childhood into adulthood. Teenagers embrace change because everyone around them is telling them “You are becoming someone. Who will you become?”
By the time we’ve hit middle age, though, we have somehow become wildly opposed to change. We’ve created routines and we cling to them like life rafts. They are soothing and safe. Most of us won’t change jobs or move across the street (let alone across the country). We don’t even want to alter our coffee order if we can help it. By forty, we have firmly established exactly who we are: it took so long to figure it out, why would we mess with what is already settled? By fifty, our ruts feel insurmountable because “This is just the way I am.” has played on repeat for decades. At sixty, we are thoroughly convinced, what’s done is done. It’s too late to start something different.
Thankfully, Moses took a whole different approach in his eighties. Think about it. One day he was an anonymous shepherd in Midian, a long-forgotten fugitive. A month later, he’s in Pharaoh’s palace making demands for God’s people! It’s truly remarkable and reminds me of the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Kenobi, a man of high breeding was hiding out in the wilderness until a higher power pressed him into public service. Our man Moses was called out by God to change: to shed self-preservation and pursue the divine plan.
I believe the most powerful thing we can do as middle or late aged believers is making ourselves open to change. (Spoiler, this may also be the hardest thing we can do at this stage of life.)
Think about it: Moses woke up to God and in the very next moment he awoke to the revelation that his people were enslaved and dying in Egypt. When Moses stopped that day to look at the burning bush, he allowed God to get under his skin, he let God’s pain become his pain. And he got up from that holy ground and followed God long enough to do something about it.
Middle-aged believers; this is where we’re at. Our children, our grand-children, the generations behind us are mired in the bondage. Sin continues to enslave and they are shackled. If we rest in our routines and creature comforts, who will free them from the chains?
"How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are send?" (Romans 10:14-15 NIV)
Moses was curious enough to turn aside when he saw something unique. He spoke with the Almighty through a fiery bush. He was so moved by this singular conversation that at the age of 80, he was compelled to climb out of his comfort zone to rescue a suffering people. Moses was open to change.
This begs the question, what about us? Can He get our attention today? Will we allow God to discomfort us? Will we open our ears to His request to participate in emancipation that’s needed? Will we allow His heart to become ours?
Change is good for our soul. Getting up out of the recliner and going for a walk in infinitely better than settling down in it. Setting the alarm and getting to church in the morning is always worth the effort. Sharing Jesus with a friend or family member is far better than keeping Him to yourself. Participate, don’t spectate.
I read it somewhere yesterday: how moment follows action, not the other way around. We tend to lay about, hoping for momentum to find us, but that’s not how it works. While it may be hard to get up and start, inertia follows a muscle in motion. Stand up. Listen closely. Change course. Resist the urge to let rigor-mortis set in early. Stay attentive to the voice of God. Follow His instructions. Be willing to change for the sake of generations to come.
Lord, forgive us for aging gracefully. We’ve settled into routines and rhythms that move along life’s current without concern for those coming after us. Today we repent. We are awake. Stir us up. Help us hear the cries of those still stuck in sin. Move us with compassion. Make us strong and brave and eager to participate. Meet our movement with Your momentum and let us help the cause of Christ. Amen.