Friday, January 24, 2014

Just Ask Abraham: You Are Never Too Old

The appointed Old Testament reading for today is taken from the Book of Genesis where we hear about Abraham’s call:
 
Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
 
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. (Gen. 12: 1-8).
 
Sometimes we think, “I’m getting along in years, and my best years are behind me. I’m too old to do anything.” Abraham is an example to you and to me that a person is never too old to say “yes” to God.  Abraham was 75 when God called him to leave everything that he knew behind and to start a new life in a place that he did not know.
 
In our Diocese, the Rev. Dr. Helen Appelberg facilitates the Abundant Living program which will meet at Camp Allen from the 10th to the 12th of March.  Even though our society tells us that the older members of our society should just sit back and do nothing, God’s message is quite the opposite.  Like Abraham, we are all called to live into God’s calling for us no matter what our age is.  I invite you to go to the Abundant Living conference at Camp Allen and listen to God’s call for you.  Just ask Abraham, you are never too old!

I would also invite you to come to our Seaside Seniors events the third Thursday of every month.  Every time that I go I am astonished at the joy, love and life that I experience. 
 
Let us pray:  Loving God and Father, we thank you for people of all ages, and today we especially thank you for our seniors who have so much to share with us.  Give us the grace through the Holy Spirit to respect every stage of the gift of life so that we may love one another as Christ has loved each and every one of us.  Amen.
 
REMINDERS
 
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Karen and Pat.
 
Your servant in Christ,
 
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550

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