Birthdays and Anniversaries...

Kids look forward to birthdays, don't they? Sure, a birthday means presents, and possibly a party with family and friends, but there is a kind of overall excitement that happens when a child has a birthday. For many teenagers, the "kid" excitement is replaced by a countdown until eligibile for a driving learner's permit--"Only two more years and I can get my permit!" During the college years, birthdays are an excuse to "party," or at the very least, have someone buy us a drink.

Adult birthdays--at least for me--aren't much of a thrill. At my age, they tend to remind me that I'm actually--finally--getting older, something I've denied for years. Sometimes they become an occasion to "take stock" of one's life up to that point. Doesn't sound too thrilling, does it.

As I've shared with some of you, this year something different happened. In my waking moments on August 23, the day I turned 63 years of age, I started to contemplate, which is a very dangerous pursuit for me before my requisite morning caffeine infusion. But on my birthday, I came to the realization that if I were fortunate enough to live as long as my Father, I have 27 years left. Now, I realize that there is certainly no guarantee that I will live that long, and none of us knows about this. However, as a point of "contemplating" reference, the figure took on some significance. I own a Mazda Miata that is 27 years old. I actually have ties that are 27 years old. All of a sudden that 27 years began to look like a pretty short span of time. My fantasy of not growing older and living forever (and I'm not talking about heaven here) was melting under a new-found 27-year "speed" limit.

I didn't get depressed at all by this contemplative realization. Instead, I began to focus on what I wanted--or feel called--to do with my time left here on Terra Firma. This wasn't a "bucket list" moment, but more of a shuddering within my Myers-Briggs "Perceiving" quality, that which causes me to default more to taking things as they come rather than building lists and planning my activities around some master-plan matrix. With less time than I imagined, should I begin to make plans? Is this a time to figure out the things I haven't accomplished in the first 63 years in order to make sure they make the agenda for the years ahead? Thankfully, the "P" won out, and instead of pulling out the pen and Post-A-Notes for a list-making session, I thought about the stuff that is important to me and how I would choose to focus more on those things than on the "expectations" and "shoulds" that we pick up through life like sweater finds lint. I guess you could say it caused me to begin to prioritize things? (Myers-Briggs "P"s don't like to do that, either.) What really matters to me? And how will that guide me through the rest of the years I have? Where am I going with this?

Well, I'm not going to share all of my personal meanderings with you, but I will say that my personal Christian faith commitment got a good going over. As a pastor, I have been too frequently a "professional Christian." I do more theology than actively and intentionally encountering God, and it's time to begin to "fish or cut bait," as they say. I love to study the Bible, but just sitting back and reading it to let it "message" as well as massage my life? There needs to be more of that, going forward. That's the "God stuff." I am married to an amazing individual. I want to learn more about her and from her. She has a wisdom and a connection with God that I envy. I also just want to spend more time with her that is not guided by a clock and a calendar. Maybe we can actually develop some friends? That hasn't happened much in pastoral work. While we have had a blast with our church folk, and have come to value those relationships, we have been pretty "arms-length," so as not to create (or even appear to create) a "clique," or to bow to favoritism among church members. I think  we would like a friend or two. There's more than that, but you get the idea. Might this blog post be a subtle nudge to the reader to make a similar "self evaluation," and even before a significant birthday or anniversary comes along? Could be.

Speaking of anniversaries, these, too can be important points of re-evaluation. Dara and I hit wedding anniversary number 40 in 2017. I wish I could say I had a similar "come to Jesus" contemplation session inspired by this occurrence, but it didn't happen. I did tell Dara that I still can't believe it has been 40 years. It seems like yesterday that we walked down that aisle of our home church in Rocky Grove, PA, and I still get a thrill when that woman walks into a room. Oh, and I still am trying to convince her she didn't make a huge mistake on May 28, 1977.  But, as those "retirement" years are also getting closer, I know it soon time to make some goals for what we want to do together when July 1, 2021 rolls around. Yeah, it's necessary, for she is a "J" on the Myers-Briggs indicators--they are the list-makers and the organizers! (So much so that when I want to get my wife in a romantic mood, I buy her a label maker or a selection of the latest Post-A-Note iterations.)

St. Paul's United Methodist Church is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this month. In 2,000-plus years of Christian Church history, that is but a breath. (Warren First UMC, which I served before being appointed back to St. Paul's in 2014, is celebrating its 200th Anniversary this year!) Is this a good time to re-evaluate who we are as a church and make plans for what comes next? Of course it is! In 2017 we completed a two-year process to write new Mission and Vision statements for our congregation, and we are challenging our folk to share some of their hopes and dreams for the church with our staff and leadership. We are excited about what how the next 50 years are beginning to take shape!

Here's a final thought: don't ever give up on the birthdays and anniversaries. Maybe they don't have the same luster as they did when we were younger, but as we age and move into the later years of life, they become even more significant, not only as measures of how far we have come, but opportunities to intentionally re-prioritize, then launching a fresh vision of what will be. Even an ancient book like the Bible is filled with countless stories of how memorable people constantly did just that, throughout its pages. Personally, I would like to be one of those memorable people. Will you join me, Dear Ones?