[AI translation] Today we are celebrating "Old and Sick Sunday" in our church. This means that we remember with a few flowers and a greeting letter those members of our congregation who, because of advanced age or illness, cannot be with us for worship. I would like to take this opportunity to set in the light of the Word a problem that Jung, one of the greatest psychologists of modern times, once expressed: "We enter the twilight of life totally unprepared, and worse still, full of a lot of false illusions." So it is not that we are financially unprepared for the age when we can no longer work, because in this respect pensions and old-age insurance are an increasing comfort for the elderly, but that we are internally unprepared for old age. This is why, despite the ever-increasing material security, most people become so joyless, restless, bitter, disappointed and abandoned in the twilight of their lives. It is not so easy to grow old well! Perhaps this is the problem that the author of Psalm 90 had in mind when he prayed to God: 'Teach us to number our days so that we may have a wise heart'.Above all, we need it because man so easily and so soon miscalculates himself, like the man in the parable who counted on many years to come: he thought he had many years to live, and that very night God took his soul! One counts years, decades, and does not know that he may have only days. In any case, we must learn that this earthly life is only a very short little stage in the flow of time, and that it can end at any moment, at any moment. I recently buried a man in the prime of his life who got on a tram in the best of moods, without any premonition or foreboding of the end to come. At the next stop he was taken off, unconscious, and by the time the ambulance arrived, he was pronounced dead. We could all tell you similar stories. But that's not what's important here, what's important is to always live with the knowledge that the two M's engraved on the palm of your hand are a constant reminder: 'Memento Mori'. For man, in his strength, tends to forget that he is a creature, a finite, finite being, someone with a finite time. This is not to say that everyone should know in advance how long he will live. When the Psalmist says, "The days of our years are 70 years, or if it be more, 80 years," it does not mean that every man will live 70 or 80 years, but it also means that our life is fixed, that it is limited. We humans tend to forget this, and even worse, we almost try to push it out of our minds. It is an unpleasant, even unbearable thought. We do not want to remember death, and as much as possible and as far as we can, we gloss over the whole concept of death, disguise it and push it far away from us, as if it were not even relevant at any given moment.
Well, one counts his days wisely when he counts death. And this is not only the problem of old age, but the problem of life in general. Jesus said it this way: "Be ready at all times, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come." At all times, not just beyond fifty or sixty, but at all ages. In childhood as well as in old age. And to be ready is to believe in Christ with full assurance of the forgiveness of sins and of one's own eternal life. Do you really have full assurance of the forgiveness of your sins and of your eternal life? What can a man give in exchange for his soul? Nothing! But it is not necessary to give anything, for God has already given Jesus, this living piece of His own love made flesh, so that "if any man believe on Him, he shall not perish, but have everlasting life." He who truly believes in Him - but in a way that shows it! - can count on being able to appear before God in peace when his soul is claimed. For he who truly believes in Him has his sins forgiven and eternal life! Yes, you are counting your days with a wise heart if you seek to be more fully assured of your salvation in Christ unto eternal life as soon as possible! This is the first and most important part of preparing for old age: to live your life on earth in the assurance of salvation!
But there is another problem! Man is willing to live with the attitude that the day of life will never end. Indeed, with the illusion that the sun is constantly rising, constantly advancing. Yet, as the Psalmist says, "life is like grass that grows and flourishes in the morning and withers and dries up in the evening". Our life has morning, evening and night. So it is a time when the sun rises, when everything sprouts and blooms. It has its dusk, when everything is in bloom. It has its twilight, the time when leaves fall and wither. Finally, there is evening and night, when all is dry and mowed down. Day and night are as unbreakable as life and death. Then, each period has its own distinct light and colour. The rising sun has a very different light from the setting sun. In the morning of life, the horizon widens and widens, unknown horizons beckon. The world and life are open to us, full of promise. Then soon comes the delirium. This noon, just like a beautiful summer day, can often last quite a long time. But there comes a moment when one realizes that it is already dusk. Evening is approaching. This realisation changes one's whole perspective on life. The horizon is no longer expanding, but narrowing, becoming more and more limited. The whole of life and the whole world begin to be seen in a different light. The whole man changes. This period of change is often accompanied by very deep inner upheavals and storms. It is one of the greatest periods of crisis in a person's life. Bigger and more unpleasant than puberty. Oh, how very timely at such a time, what the Psalmist prayed: 'Teach us to number our days so that we may have a wise heart'! Those who do not count their days with God-given wisdom, who do not live through this period of crisis in their lives, can often do very foolish things. It is at this time, in the anxiety before the door closes, that men and women make most of the mistakes in their lives. It is good to be aware of this!
The apostle Paul says: "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child: but after I became a man, I left the things that were proper for a child." (1 Cor 13,11) "I left," or, according to the literal translation of the original text, "I put away. It sounds so simple, yet it often takes a great struggle to put something down. Until, for example, a man who is mature enough to be a man can put down the things that are appropriate for a child. This putting down is one of the greatest secrets of a wise life. Because later on, not only what was suitable for a child has to be put down, but also what was suitable for the delirium of life at some time. And the older you get, the more you have to "put down". So we must learn to let things go and put things down early on! This letting go is sometimes difficult and painful. One wants to keep the richness of the delirium of life in one's hands. It is therefore necessary to learn in time the great mystery of the wisdom of the Gospel of life, which Jesus expressed in this way: "Whoever wants to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will find it!" In other words, he who wants to keep everything for himself will become poor, and he who dares to put things down, as it were to let them go out of his hand, will become rich. So, for example, the parent who dares to let go of his adult child, to let him go off and live his own life, so that he does not want to keep it for himself, does not usually lose his child. In fact, that is how you really get it back. One counts one's days with a wise heart when one learns to live in this world as one who gives and not as one who demands. The man who prepares himself rightly for old age learns the art of renunciation, of letting go, without bitterness or resentment, in the happy knowledge that sacrifice never makes a man poorer, but always makes him richer!
Finally, here is another problem! The public opinion in which we actually live is not only afraid of death, but also of the passing of the years themselves. One of the many false ideals of our culture is precisely the desire to be young at all costs. Yet youth is only one stage in a person's life. How can a stage in the journey of life be made into a goal? Yet the ideal of youthfulness plays such a big role in the way people feel and think! They try to stretch the life phase of youth as long as possible, so that it can permeate all the other phases of life. The motto is that you are as old as you feel. The idea is that if you don't want to grow old, you will stay young. In the face of this nonsense, it is good to acknowledge the sober truth that you are exactly as old as you are! It is true that people our age do not like to hear that! A whole technique has already been developed to at least preserve the appearance of youthfulness, even if the operation takes away all the features and personality of the face. A technique that sees the triumph of its fevered ambition in being able to change the grandmother, to paint her so that she can compete with her granddaughter. According to this public opinion, ageing is the most frightening scare of all. The things people do to disguise the signs of ageing, both to themselves and to those around them! There is a great inner protest against ageing, which of course makes the inner conflict all the greater!
But man pretends to be young, as if the sun were still rising, and then suddenly the darkness falls upon him unprepared, the evening creeps upon him! That is, to live our days in such a way that we can unmask the false ideal of youthfulness! We can reckon with the fact that, yes, with each passing day, I have grown older! Old age is not a terrible thing to be afraid of. The evening of life is not just a complaining function of the day. Old age has its own special purpose and meaning! Otherwise God would not let us grow old! Let us never see life as going in a circle, as if the old man were returning to a certain second childhood, but as a progress, as a growth in grace, a maturing process for eternity.
The quality of old age is that one is beyond the hard struggles and labours of life and can now be more immersed in the peace of God. The older a person gets, the more he or she must live and express what, in fact, every Christian should live at every age: peace with God, intimate friendship with the Lord. The Christian man is always a beggar, a servant and a friend to God. The old man has the privilege of becoming less and less a beggar and servant, and more and more a friend of God. What a source of blessing to God, by his gentle peace, by his intercessory prayer for his surroundings, can such a dear old friend as Abraham was be to God! Fear not, then, old age. Rather, look upon it as more and more illumined by the light of the coming morning of eternity, the glory of the resurrection of Christ!
Let us therefore pray with the Psalmist, "Lord, teach us to number our days so that we may have a wise heart."
Amen
Date: 17 June 1962 (Old and Sick Sunday)