Aging Spiritually: No Ageism at Pentecost
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This past week I’ve been reading again our Pentecost Sunday scripture, the telling of the events of the Day of Pentecost, found in Acts 2. I have read the passage contemplatively, listening for the Spirit’s inner voice speaking to me through the scripture. What I heard this week is that God’s Spirit is given equally to all persons to enable God’s people to share God’s love.
Just like in Acts 2, the Spirit of God is still given to all persons, regardless of gender, age, economic status, nationality, race, or ethnicity. The Pentecost message is that God’s Spirit is still given to all persons. Our world, and specifically the culture we live in today, has a hard time with this idea of divinely established equality.
My reflections on Acts 2:17 have centered on this equality as it relates to ageing. In this passage, Peter quotes Joel 2:28,
In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Both the Hebrew prophet Joel, and Peter, the disciple of Jesus, proclaim a divine vision of equity between young and old. Yet, in our culture, in the way we see the world in 21st century United States, there is pervasive ageism. Ageism is a cultural bias that discriminates against people because of their age. Far too often, younger people are valued more highly than older people.
This bias was clearly evident as the early effects of the pandemic were far worse for people in their later years. Some people thought we shouldn’t worry too much about “those old people” getting sick. They said things like, “They don’t work anymore. They are no longer productive. They don’t do anything. They are the past, not the future.”
It broke my heart to hear those attitudes. Then, I was upset that people who claimed to follow Jesus were saying things like that. Ageism is a product of our culture of productivity that values doing over being. It’s like the air we breathe, we don’t even think about how it influences us.
What breaks my heart even more is to hear ageism from older people themselves, who are so ingrained in the culture of productivity they believe they have no value when they no longer are productive. Often, I have heard older adults say, “Why am I still living? I can’t do anything. I’m no good for anybody.” This fear of having no value is a result of cultural ageism.
Ageism fears are not new. Psalm 71 includes a plea that God would not “cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.”
The outpouring of God’s Spirit at Pentecost is a clear reminder that God does not cast off people in their old age, or forsake them when they are frail and weak. God’s Spirit is poured out on all flesh, both young and old. There was no ageism at Pentecost, and there should be no ageism in today’s followers of Jesus.
In every blessing I give after worship I always remind those present, both young and old, that they are “God’s beloved daughters and sons.” My prayer is that you will believe that truth about yourself and every older person you see. Ageism has no place in the Kingdom of God, or in our lives.
Practice
Read Acts 2:1-21, and Psalm 71:9, 17-18. Writing in a journal or notebook, ponder what ageism means in your life. Do you have a bias about older adults? Do you value people by their ability to be productive? Do you value yourself by what you can do, or by who you are as a beloved child of God? Consider that God’s blessing and Spirit has been poured out on all, both young and old.
Greg Smith
Legacy Ministry for Older Adults