Wednesday, June 26, 2019

“The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’” (Matthew 25:23, New Living Translation) 

                Ah, retirement! It is wondrous! It is a blessing! It is sweet and delicious. It is… well, you get my point. There was a report this week which claimed that most Canadians over the age of 55 are happy or content with their lives. I suspect that many of those folk are probably retired.

                We attended a celebration event on Sunday in Kingston for the retirement of my brother, Wayne, after nearly 60 years in pastoral ministry, the last fifteen years at Edith Rankin Memorial United Church.  His wife, Jean Stairs, who has been doing team ministry with him over the last several years, was also feted for her retirement at the same time.

                I am not sure Wayne knows what exactly to expect about retirement. He thought that I was crazy retiring so early and I think he was nuts for working so long. But to each his own. He has been a dedicated and exhaustive worker for the Church his whole life. He has wanted to be a minister since he was knee-high to a tadpole. He has remained in church ministry into his 70s and has been very fruitful, successful and productive in all those years. I am immensely proud of him.

                He has not really seriously asked me other than saying to me on Sunday whether this retirement thing is all that it is cracked up to be. My short answer was, yes, it has been wonderful. The time is your own and I have loved every minute of my retirement. I joke that I wish that I had done it 40 years ago. I am not sure that he was totally convinced.

                But it got me to thinking about a longer answer – after all, you take the man out of preaching but not the preaching out of the man.

                To anyone who struggles with retirement, thinking about retirement or is restless in retirement (and trust me, ministers are among the worst in adapting to retirement) here is my unsolicited advice.

                Let retirement come to you naturally. You don’t have to grab it by the horns and tame it. Find its natural flow; breathe the air of its freedom; sense its new rhythms and life’s patterns. Don’t tackle it aggressively, but let it find you and reward you in ways that you haven’t experienced since you were a child, probably. Retirement doesn’t have to be profound or intense to be interesting and meaningful. You don't have to consume your retirement; savor it, instead. You may have time on your hands; that’s not a bad thing – you can use it if you want but it is not mandatory. You can finally drop the Protestant Work Ethic.

                Retirement can become time, space and place for rediscovery of favourite pastimes, hobbies or projects. But don’t go at those things like your hair is on fire. Enjoy the pace of retirement. Like it is written in Ecclesiastes there is a time for everything and now you are in control of those times.

                I have never been a fan of a purpose driven life philosophy for anyone. It sounds too intense, obsessive, compulsive, hardcore single-mindedness.  Driven people may have the most difficult time in retirement. I loved my years in ministry but I have received this amazing gift and permission from God to kick off my shoes and let others pay heed to burning bushes. I get to spend more time with my grandchildren, have time to write, to play silly computer games, build Lego sets, to choose activities that I enjoy. I still do on-call chaplaincy at the hospital and serve on a couple of committees.  I am just busy enough to keep me active.

                Life is good!  I pray that if you are in one of the 55 years and older categories that happiness has found you and contentment is not eluding you. Enjoy!

Dale