Calvin Synod Herald, 2013 (114. évfolyam, 3-12. szám)

2013-05-01 / 5-6. szám

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CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

Continued from page 7

elusions over and over again. The religion and faith have a very strong role in elders’ life, influencing on their view of World and their imagination of life after death. All religions have certain elements in common: prayers to recite, holy days to keep, places to frequent or avoid, rituals to perform, truths to affirm, means by which to predict the future or redefine the past, charismatic leaders to follow and the fasting in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The connection of God can determine the last years of human. The belief can help a lot for elders but it also can make a disturbance in their life. The disordered relief can destroy the personality, putting a poison in the relationships. So, gathering the knowledge of humanistic psychology combining with the theological anthropology, I would like to give some sample about what the old-age is.

The dignity of old-age

We read this in the Proverbs 16:31: „Gray hair is a crown of splendors, it is attained by a righteous life”.

In this meaning, the grey hair is an award, an acknowledgement and we find it in righteous life. So being old is a match which made in bliss. It belongs to Life, we can not avoid it, there is no need to hate it, because it is not the right treatment.

In the book of Job Ch. 8:8 : „Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned”.

The elders are the fathers and they have a deep and universal experience about Life, from these experiences, knowing and understanding the visible and invisible signs, elders knew the secret for the World. It was the questioning and asking attitude.

In the chapter 12:12 we can find this: „ Is not wisdom found among the aged?

Does not long life bring understanding?”

Searching for wisdom is a human being. With the wisdom people can protect themselves. The protection is a basic attitude of the elders. The want to be protected, soul and body are not vulnerable. The wisdom is an ability which can divide the good from bad. Wisdom is an understanding heart. The King, Salomon received such an ability and it made him wealthy and it was a very nice talent in the eye of God. Wisdom belongs to the ages. If someone is getting older, he or she gets more experience and by these experiences he or she can understand life more. In this meaning, the long life brings understanding and the understood days bring a long life. But there is another meaning of wisdom as well:

In the book of Daniel 7:9:„As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was a white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool.

His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.”

In the vision of Daniel, he saw colors. He saw „the hair of head was white like wool.’This was the head of „the Ancient of Days”, this someone rules the time. The narrator speaks about God and he describes Lord Almighty as an individual with whitehair. The white color is the purity and holiness. These talents belong to elders.

In the book of Zechariah 8:4: „This is what the Lord Almighty says: „ Once again men and women of ripe old age will set in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand because of his age”.

The dignity of elders belong to the eschatology happiness.

In the book of Job 32:7-9: „I thought, Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom. But it is the spirit in a man the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding. It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right”.

The long life is a blessing and the expression of the mercy of God, the Holy Spirit gives wisdom, so it is a given skill.

In 1. Timothy 5:1-2: „Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as sisters with absolute purity.”

Respect elders! The respectful treatment of elders brings a purity for life.

Rev. Tamas Biro

The Lord is My Teacher

Texts: Psalm 23; John 10:11-18

Since we’ve never seen God at any time, when we speak of God it becomes necessary to use the language of analogy. In simile we say, “God is like a Shepherd,” or in metaphor we say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

But I feel a bit distant from this shepherd comparison. (Apologies if it is an image especially important to you.) I’ve known only a few people who raise sheep. But they’re quite different then the shepherds of ancient rural Palestine, as well as from modem Basque shepherds.

Once upon a time I met a shepherd on the little Hebredian island of Iona off" the west coast of Scotland, an imposing figure in kilt with a flowing beard, staff in hand. But I only greeted him and walked on.

Maybe “The Lord as Shepherd” works for you. But I’ve always been sort of a city chap and that rural image remains hard for me to reach. Likewise if you had said to the ancient shepherd King David, “The Lord is my CEO,” he might have responded with a blank stare.

For me, “The Lord is my Teacher” works. I think of my early teachers, Mrs. Harmon in first and second grades, Mrs. Thompson in third, and Mrs. Waikazer in 5th, she whom we called “Evil Eye Waikazer” because she peered at her class over pinz nez glasses.

I think of other teachers: Carl Bangs who awakened me out of my theological provincialism;

Kenneth Grider who helped me get into graduate school in Scotland; Willard Taylor, the best classroom teacher I ever had. And Gabriel Marcel, whom I never met, but who taught me much