The perspective of Psalm 90
“The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” Psalm 90:10
Psalm 90 was one of two psalms which in the old English prayer book could be read after the coffin was carried into the church at the beginning of the funeral service. It describes human life lived out under the judgement of God at the fall v. 9 – “For all our days” writes the Psalmist “pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.” – and it is very clear on the fleeting nature or our lives.
Psalm 90: 5 You sweep them [the children of Adam] away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
And it asks it’s hearers to ask God to help them recognise and live in the light of both these realities – living under judgement and the brevity of our lives.
Psalm 90: 12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
The Psalm does not end there, continuing to make an appeal to the LORD’s steadfast love and in God’s grace even finding the hope of doing something that lasts [vv. 13-16]. But the perspective of Psalm 90 helps us both think rightly about retirement and also the structures the Lord has given us in our community to maintain continuity across the generations.
There are different ways of seeing retirement. The world tries to present it as a goal or a reward for a lifetime of work, or canny financial planning, which for those who drop dead shortly after retiring, or for those who finish work with all manner of aches, must be a little disappointing. But for the wise who number their days retirement is recognition of the realities the Psalm speaks of – that our lives are fleeting and that living in this age under the judgement of the fall there comes a time when, with accumulating years, our strength fades and we can do less.
The good of institutions and structures
And it is recognising this universal reality – that we all age and grow weaker - that helps us see the advantages of institutions and structures in the role of communities, including communities of believers like us. We are a privatized and individualistic culture and we can easily downplay or neglect the role of institutional structures, but they give to communities made up of those whose life is fleeting continuity of purpose, direction, and provision, and they can promote the preservation and transmission of shared culture.
Old Testament Institutions
God provided institutions and structures for His Old Testament people, principally the family and priesthood. The family gave continuity of covenant relationship to the LORD across generations as it taught the TORAH and preserved the family’s inheritance in the land. The priesthood gave continuity of covenant relationship by generation after generation maintaining the sacrifices that atoned for Israel’s sins and sanctified them. Through these structures God was making provision for Israel to continue as His people characterised by a commitment to live by His law, even as individual Israelites grew old and died.
Our structures
By God’s grace our Bundy community has also been provided with good and useful structures – some permanent like Session, BOM, the Deacons and our ministry team, some occasional like our selection committee, and those permanent structures give continuity of direction and culture to our common life.
Our Session gives continuity of direction and doctrine as they keep watch over the flock, the Board continuity of material provision that allows us to keep meeting, the Deacons continuity of care, the Ministry team continuity and consistency of ministry – of preaching, teaching, training, facilitating the ministry of all of us in making disciples.
These structures continue even as the composition of their personnel changes, and that is important. Institutions and structures are not often seen as exciting but they are vital, while not being ends in themselves.
The purpose of a Session, for example, is not to have a Session, but to promote the health of God’s people through effective oversight exercised in teaching and discipline. The goal of their existence is the flourishing of the Lord’s people in living lives of faith and obedience. These structures exist to serve.
Nor are they perfect. Of themselves, just by their existence, they cannot keep us as faithful disciples of Jesus. Being populated by people like us they are another front in the believer’s battle with the world, the flesh and the devil, requiring a commitment to godliness in those serving in them if they are to do their good work in our community.
But while not perfect nor ends in themselves, these structures are worth investing your prayers and time in, so that they remain faithful and effective, and work well in maintaining our gathering as one where Jesus is honoured through His word being faithfully taught, and the goals of our gathering are promoted – our encouraging one another to persevere as followers of Jesus whose lives are marked by love and doing good as we obey Jesus’ word.
Recognise the value of our structures
My retirement is an opportunity to recognise afresh the value of our structures. They continue as senior ministers and others come and go, for I am not the only who in the life of the church will retire. Life is transient, our lives like flowers of the field, flourishing for a moment and then gone.
But a session committed to maintaining the truth of the gospel and applying it to the lives of believers ensures that commitment to faithfulness in teaching God’s word continues.
A Board committed to managing the finances of the congregation to support the preaching of the gospel ensures the ongoing provision of ministry.
A diaconate committed to making sure our life is characterised by a love that is not just in words but in deed and truth ensure our ongoing care for each other and our identity before the world as Jesus’ disciples.
A ministry team, accountable to Session and supported by the Board and assisted by the deacons, ensure the continuity of ministry, the regular teaching of God’s word in our gathering, the training of one another for service, the one on one pastoral conversations applying the teaching, rebuke, correction and training of Scripture to our lives and so helps us persevere and grow as Jesus’ disciples.
God has made provision in these structures for continuity in what matters in our church life in the context of inevitable changes in personnel, so be thankful for these structures and for those who serve in them. Pray regularly for them – for their godliness, faithfulness, diligence. Support and encourage them by listening to them and accepting their ministry. Even now, and in the future, consider serving in them if asked, for as I have said, I won’t be the only one to retire, and these structures are the means God has given us to maintain our life together as disciples of Jesus, where we are taught to do all that Jesus has taught us, and can share together in helping others be and persevere as disciples of our Lord Jesus until the time when the aging and death of this age are gone forever and all things are made new.
As I come to retire, and this will be my last communication as your minister, I am confident that God will not only hear our prayers for a faithful and godly new senior minister, but that in our Session, BOM, Deacons and ministry team He has already made provision for us to continue as a gathering where His word is faithfully taught and we will be encouraged to persevere and grow as disciples of our Lord.
