Retired, but Still Productive

Dear Fellow Workers in Christ: Greetings!

As an "aging" Pastor of 93, but still in good health and sound mind, I feel relatively qualified to pass along to you a few suggestions for offsetting those feelings of boredom and non-productivity which we all share once we have lost the allure of "going out to pasture."

If you are anything like I am, I have the feeling that those retirement years aren't all that they are cracked up to be. As dedicated servants of Christ, we still feel that inward tug on our heartstrings to do something constructive for God's kingdom because we still have both the desire and talents to do so.

As a retiree living in a small town, perhaps you soon tired of doing such mundane things as: visiting the local library, doing the laundry and waiting for the mailman to bring you just a couple of non-junk mail letters.

Have you carefully considered feeling useful by making yourself available for some ongoing works of faith in the following areas of service:

1. Offer your services to some non-CRC church in need of an Interim Pastor. I for one, took this course of action by serving 3 Presbyterian churches in Illinois for three consecutive years, with very enjoyable and satisfactory results.
2. Offer your talented services to some local area church seeking someone to lead their men's Bible Study on either a weekly or semi-monthly basis. You might consider heading it up under the name "The Three Score and more Men's Bible Study Group."
3. Write a Banner article on one of your feelings of gratitude for the manner in which God is continuing to bless our covenant-committed denomination in its ongoing quest to set forth the sanctity of God's infallible, inspired and inerrant Word for this troubled world.
4. Offer your teaching services to a local library desirous of getting people into its facility by offering them a qualified speaker to update them on what is going on in this rapidly changing world, by being aware of our major weaknesses affecting the moral fabric of our society.
5. Make yourself available to a non-profit organization such as our own CRWRC to serve in one of the hardest hit areas of our country, currently in need of as much help as they can get to demonstrate the mercy of Christ in action.
6. Offer to be a volunteer Chaplain to your local hospital(s) and make daily or periodic visits to patients particularly in need of such visits because of having few if any surviving or nearby friends or relatives.
7. Offer your services to Police and Fire departments as a Pastor willing to accompany them on trauma-type emergency calls with pastoral care needs.

None of the above may fit into your concept of doing late term pastoral services pleasing to God; if not, why not come up with a few feasible plans of your own to help offset that retiree slump feeling?

Let your conscience be your guide, as we jointly seek our Lord's ongoing "well done" smiles of approval, as we continue to age gracefully, yet productively.

Thanks for listening to my well meant suggestions for still feeling ourselves a significant part of the church militant.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Sam