Each week we feature one of the many ministries that make up the work and witness of All Saints Church. This week we offer this reflection from Mary Louise Lau on her experience with Senior Saints.
The Senior Saints Ministry at All Saints Church is important in my life. Senior Saints provides support for my evolving spiritual development through opportunities for deeper self-awareness, prayer, fellowship and fun. Furthermore, I appreciate that ministry activities are grounded in an expressed mission statement.
“Our mission is to embark on a shared pilgrimage to discover how one’s understanding of the spiritual dimension can transform mere aging into gracious eldering.”
Consequently, activities are planned to celebrate the later time in our shared life’s journey, and in that spirit, all ASC elders are encouraged to join planned activities.
I have enjoyed several scheduled programs. For example, seniors are invited to meet at a monthly lunch meeting each first Thursday at 12:30. Lunch includes speakers who focus on issues related to conscious aging, financial planning, and spiritual growth. It is an opportunity to meet with old and new friends. Additional planned activities include a book reading group, which meets on the second Thursday of each month also at 12:30. The focus of this book group is to seek insight from spiritual writers such as Richard Rohr, Joan Chittister, and Anne Lamott.
Through group discussion and reflection we learn to better appreciate the process of aging in our own lives. Finally, a monthly, guided writing group meets the third Thursday of each month at 12:30. While in this group, I have been encouraged to explore my individual life story and to connect my memories with a deeper awareness of the divine within me. This process can be difficult. However, the gentle guidance of the facilitator and the fellowship of the group provide support and encouragement.
There are “play” activities as well. Movie Nights with popcorn and refreshments and a Christmas Tea are shared social experiences, which are fun and enrich our relationships within the context of a large church.
In summary, while enrolled in a course, “Spirituality and Aging,” at a local School of Theology, I learned to confront current culture views of elder years as a time of decline and loss. However, I have learned to re-define this later time as one with the possibility of inner growth.
Participation in Senior Saints activities connects me with opportunities to explore spiritual writings, learn from informed speakers, write my individual life story, and relax in social gatherings while growing in a supportive community of ASC elders.
Barry Barkan in The Live Oak Project, El Sobrante offers this insight. “An elder is a person, who is still growing, still a learner, still with potential, and whose life continues to have within it promise for, and connection to the future.”
Senior Saints enhances the possibility for such growth.
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For more information on Senior Saints visit their table on the lawn this Sunday, November 18 or their website page … or contact aperez@allsaints-pas.org or 626.583.2732
