Worship Should Address Needs of Seniors

Fifty-three Disability Concerns advocates and staff from across North America met for their annual gathering in late September at the Prince Conference Center at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Including advocates from both the Christian Reformed Church and Reformed Church in America, they spent time in worship and discussed how all people, regardless of their challenges or disabilities, have God-given gifts of leadership.

Meeting Sept. 27-29, the advocates also engaged in conversations over meals, outings, and workshops to develop new relationships and strengthen existing friendships.

A significant portion of the meeting focused on “getting advocacy done” both at the regional and congregational levels. Some of the ideas generated included raising awareness of disabilities by finding out who is touched by disability in congregations, partnering with community organizations involved in disability supports, and bringing a “disability lens” to every aspect of church life (leadership, worship, faith formation, outreach, etc.).

On Sept. 28, the CRC and RCA Disability Concerns offices held another event in which 37 people had the opportunity to look at the theme of “Engaging Older Adults in Worship.”

Keynote speaker and author Bill Gaventa encouraged participants to consider some of the most important questions for people as they age, including questions about identity, purpose, community, and control.

In North America, he said during his presentation, we too often tie these crucial aspects of life to independence, productivity, inclusion, and power.

But people often lose independence as they age, become less productive, do not connect with the same circles of people as they did before, and have less power and control over their circumstances.

As a result, Gavena told his audience, many people tend to experience aging only as a season of loss and decline. But faith communities have the opportunity to help people find their identity and purpose outside of independence and productivity, to create a new community in which they are valued and their voices are heard, he said.

Gaventa is director of the Summer Institute on Theology and Disability and the Collaborative on Faith and Disability. A consultant with worship communities and organizations, he has written journal articles, book chapters, monographs, resource collections, and booklets; he has edited four books; and he recently wrote Disability and Spirituality: Recovering Wholeness (Baylor University Press, 2018).

During his talk, Gaventa touched on themes of blessing, honor, lament, and reconciliation. He additionally asked the audience to generate their own ideas about how faith communities can engage members of the congregation at every age to address these critical aspects of life.

Ideas coming out of this discussion included the following:

• Plan songs to be sung in worship on a theme, and use older songs related to that theme.
• Worship begins in the parking lot, including greeting and assistance by younger persons for older persons.
• In pastoral prayers, mention concerns of elderly members; mention names of shut-ins in at least one prayer per month. Remember the importance of saying people’s names.
• Use touch and anointing oil.
• Provide a balance between older and newer styles of worship.
• Use prayer shawls as a reminder of the church’s embrace.
• Use pictures and rituals for people who are cremated.
• In worship in retirement centers, or at home, etc., start saying a familiar Bible verse and let older persons complete it.
• Use stories and pictures rather than traditional sermons in retirement settings.

In the afternoon, a panel continued this discussion, addressing traditional aspects of church life including worship, discipleship, pastoral care, and fellowship.

Talking about her former role as a minister to seniors in one congregation, Rev. Rose Meyer Bruins, a Christian Reformed minister, described the meaning many people experienced in celebrating the sacrament of communion. Though they were no longer able to attend worship with others in their congregation, celebrating this sacrament connected them in a mysterious, joyful way both to their fellow congregation members and to God, she said.

Meyer Bruins also served the CRCNA as a chaplain to Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services and to Forest View Psychiatric Hospital, both in Grand Rapids, Mich. Working with older adults with dementia fostered her love of engaging them in meaningful worship, she said.

Other panelists included Emily R. Brink, resource development specialist for congregational song for the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and editor emeritus of Reformed Worship; Rebecca Ebb-Speese, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Woodland, Mich.; Bill Rigg and his wife, Nancy, founders of Salt Ministries; and Richard Verkaik, chaplain at Beacon Hill at Eastgate, a retirement community in Grand Rapids, Mich.

This event was sponsored by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Christian Reformed Worship Ministries, and the Disability Concerns ministries of the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America.