The local paper recently ran a piece which included some comments about the former pastor of a church in our community. His friends and family talked about how he had “retired” several years ago. Scare quotes in the original. Webster tells us that scare quotes are “quotation marks used to express especially skepticism or derision.”  Apparently, the former pastor’s friends and family are skeptical as to his actual retirement.

This summer will mark the fifth anniversary of my – no scare quotes – retirement. Also, the fiftieth anniversary of my entry into full-time ministry. I’ve been thinking about retirement, its meaning and its purpose. Today I continue with Part II of a four-part series:

1. Retirement as a gift from God
2. Retirement as a gift for others
3. Retirement as a call to look forward
4. Retirement as a time to look back

As I wrote last week, I should add that my retirement is pretty traditional. Five years ago, I quit receiving a paycheck, moved out of my office, and was no longer bound to a position description and job expectations. In those five years our retirement income has proven to be more than adequate, my health is good, and my energy level is high. We also moved 600 miles from the place we had called home to a new house and home we enjoy greatly. I understand that some people cannot afford to retire, and others enter retirement with regrets and worries of different sorts. So, as I think about retirement, most of the data comes from my own good experience and from conversations and observations from those around me. I will cite no studies and offer no footnotes.

II. RETIREMENT AS A GIFT FOR OTHERS Continue reading →

The local paper recently ran a piece which included some comments about the former pastor of a church in our community. His friends and family talked about how he had “retired” several years ago. Scare quotes in the original. Webster tells us that scare quotes are “quotation marks used to express especially skepticism or derision.”  Apparently, the former pastor’s friends and family are skeptical as to his actual retirement.

This summer will mark the fifth anniversary of my – no scare quotes – retirement. Also, the fiftieth anniversary of my entry into full-time ministry. I’ve been thinking about retirement, its meaning and its purpose. If you will allow me a little self-indulgence, I plan on using the next four editions of Observations to reflect on retirement:

1. Retirement as a gift from God
2. Retirement as a gift for others
3. Retirement as a call to look forward
4. Retirement as a time to look back

Before I begin the first installment, I should add that my retirement is pretty traditional. Five years ago, I quit receiving a paycheck, moved out of my office, and was no longer bound to a position description and job expectations. In those five years our retirement income has proven to be more than adequate, my health is good, and my energy level is high. We also moved 600 miles from the place we had called home to a new house and home we enjoy greatly. I understand that some people cannot afford to retire, and others enter retirement with regrets and worries of different sorts. So, as I think about retirement, most of the data comes from my own good experience and from conversations and observations from those around me. I will cite no studies and offer no footnotes. Continue reading →

I spent some quality time in a medical waiting room earlier in the week. Routine visit and all is well, at least health-wise. But maybe all is not well in other ways. Placed prominently for all to see was the sign in the photo above:

Please treat our staff with respect.
Your words matter. Your behavior matters.
The safety of our patients and our team matters.
Thank you.

I don’t miss the year-old copies of Good Housekeeping, Sports Illustrated, and Road & Track that used to be a part of every waiting room, but this was something new and sad to see. I am assuming a reason, an incident or repeated incidents, that prompted the staff at the clinic to place the sign prominently in their waiting room. Unkind words spoken to the staff, the safety of patients and team members threatened. Wait, this is small-town America.

It has been sixty years since we were reminded that the times they are a-changin’. Of course, times are always changing, but maybe particularly so in the past sixty years.  And lest I find myself criticizing what I don’t understand, I should quickly add that I am among those who have gained much from the changes that have been far beyond my command. What a wonderful life! But what gain is there in having to be reminded to behave in the clinic’s waiting room? Continue reading →

It is raining in northeast Indiana as I write. But it wasn’t raining earlier this morning. When I hauled myself out of bed, I looked out the window. Dark clouds. I wondered if it might rain, so I checked one and then the other weather app on my phone. The first app told me not to worry; no drops would fall until around 9:00 a.m. – long after I’d come in from my morning run. The second app told a more foreboding story, however. The clouds were due to burst in exactly 29 minutes, about the time I’d have finished the morning psalms and was ready to hit the pavement. Both apps agreed that the temperature outside was in the mid-40s and that it really felt as if it was in the 30’s. A possibility or rain, chillier than I expected. Maybe a morning to stay in a warm, dry house. Perhaps that was how best to understand the first morning psalm, “Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings!” (Psalm 61:4).

Still no rain by the time I came to the closing line of Psalm 62, “You will render to all according to their work.”  App #1 was sticking to its 9:00 a.m. rain prediction and #2 had changed its mind. I still had 45 minutes until it got wet outside. 45 minutes was not long enough for my planned running route, but the loopy nature of our neighborhood (the streets if not always the neighbors) meant that I would be able to find a fairly fast path home should the rain begin to soak to my bones. Besides, what might I be rendered if I neglected the work of a morning run? Out I went.

The rain began around 9:00 a.m. – long after I’d come in from my morning run. Continue reading →

The Second Helvetic Confession is less well-known than the Westminster Confession of Faith or the Heidelberg Catechism, but with its Swiss roots and direct connection to John Calvin through Calvin’s correspondence and friendship with its author Heinrich Bullinger, the Second Helvetic Confession should not be overlooked in its importance to the Reformed faith.

I’ve been thinking about the Second Helvetic this week. Specifically, I have thought about one of the most famous lines from the Confession. In the first chapter, Bullinger asserts that the Scriptures are the true word of God. Nothing in that statement that anyone who claims “sola scriptura” would dispute. But before the chapter ends, he also says, “Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is proclaimed, and received by the faithful…”

When we worshiped in Ossian, Indiana, on Sunday, I heard the very Word of God. I heard it again on Monday when I listened to Sunday’s sermon from a pastor who is a close friend but who lives far away. Continue reading →