Today I was in a skilled nursing community in the south bay. Several of the residents there are veterans. There is George, who sings, who questions and prays, who voices his opinions and laughs out loud, and who mentioned that evenings in the community were really dreary. "They play old band music. Every night." He is a Viet Nam veteran, and served in the Marines. Bob, who served in the Navy around the same time, chimed in. "Yea, it is pretty bad." I suddenly realized that these men are my contemporaries, and if I had to listen to big band music every evening just to pass the time, I would be desperate.
Our ministry is changing. Yes, we still serve the frail "old old," and these people we cherish. Yet, there are also the ones I think of as the "emerging aging." Women and men who served in Viet Nam. Those who refused to go. Those who partied way too long. Those, like Hannah, whose successful careers would be waylaid by illnesses like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. Those who have prepared for this time, and those who thought such a time would never come, or at least not now. Those who need more than music from another generation. In other words, they are we, and we need to connect with one another.
The ministry is changing. Come change with us. People are waiting.
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