“Bless the LORD, O my soul and do not forget all his benefits—the one who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit” (Psalm 103:2-3). This past Sunday afternoon, I preached on these verses to my congregation of 40 or so senior adults at the Cornerstone Village Church, a nondenominational church based in the Abundant Christian Living Community in Johnson City, TN. To proclaim the benefits of a God who heals and redeems life to a congregation of senior adults can be a daunting task. My congregation has felt the sting of ailment, alienation, and ageism. I, a healthy 28-year-old preacher fresh out of seminary, have not. The kerygmatic balm of passages like Psalm 103 can easily be misapplied in such circumstances.  The young preacher might offer biblical reassurances to elderly saints yet fail to recognize their life stories, their physical and spiritual needs, and their potential for further growth as disciples of Jesus.

Over the past year, I have sought to preach well to this small congregation of senior adults. It was not a pastoral role I planned to take on. I was in my last year of seminary taking several challenging classes, serving in a part-time role at another church on Sunday mornings, and working as a Hebrew Bible teaching assistant at Emmanuel. I knew it would be challenging with my schedule, but I am so thankful I accepted the call. Preaching at the Cornerstone Village Church has turned out to be one of the most life-giving ministry experiences of my life. This unique ministry setting has beautifully shaped my perspective as a pastor and made me a better preacher. Humbly pastoring and preaching weekly in a smaller congregation filled with senior adults is a ministry experience that seminarians and young pastors should strongly consider. Whether or not one accepts such a ministry, every seminarian and young pastor should recognize that we live in an American context where many congregations–both large and small– include a high percentage of senior adults.

 I believe my experience ministering and preaching to the Cornerstone Village Church might offer an inkling of wisdom for those tasked with preaching the Gospel to elderly saints. With this in mind, I humbly offer three preaching lessons I have learned from my time at the Cornerstone Village Church which I hope can edify my fellow preachers, especially those who find themselves regularly preaching the Gospel to the elderly.

Bear witness to the storied lives of the elderly

In The Witness of Preaching, Tom Long reminds us, “The preacher comes from God’s people and thus is not outside the people or above them” (p. 7). The preacher must not succumb to the ageism that pervades American culture and dismiss the life experiences of the elderly as less relevant to the preaching task.  The lives of senior adults are very real; they do not end once grandchildren or great-grandchildren appear on the scene; they do not end when they sell their homes and move into an assisted living facility or retirement home.  The preacher must actively choose to live life among their congregation—not outside of them. They must choose to visit senior adults in their homes, to break bread with them, to sit with them after a church service, and learn more about their beautifully storied lives. Often the stories that come out of such interactions lean into the nostalgia of time long past, but those are not the only stories that can be explored. The elderly are making new stories every day, and they must be recognized as well. Listen for those stories too.

  When you have actively lived life among an elderly congregation, this creates authentic opportunities to bear witness to the real needs, hopes, and circumstances of the elderly in your preaching. This past Sunday, when I preached on the LORD “who heals your diseases” (Psalm 103:3b), I looked out over the church and named recent moments in our congregation’s history when the congregation had felt the healing power of God in their lives. In this particular moment, because I was familiar with my congregation’s storied lives, I was able to bear witness to those stories and better proclaim the LORD who heals the sick and redeems us from the Pit of Death even when physical healing does not come. 

Lean into the wildness of Scripture

Most of my senior adult congregation have been in church their whole lives. Over the decades they have listened to thousands of sermons, and many of them have read through the Bible multiple times. Elderly congregations can be quite biblically literate. Knowing this to be the case (and having a deep love for biblical scholarship), I challenged myself to prepare sermon series that would help me and my biblically minded audience grow in our appreciation of Scripture. 

The very first sermon series I preached at the Village Church was a 22-week expository series on the Gospel according to Mark. Rather than simply skim the surface of popular Jesus stories, I challenged the congregation to hear Mark’s unique voice in the text. I explored Mark’s use of literary techniques and devices like chiasms, intercalation, inclusios, and puns. I quoted from scholars like Amy Jill Levine and connected Mark’s writing to other first-century authors like Josephus. And I leaned into the wild stories of the text that some might be tempted to skip. Together, the Cornerstone Village Church and I explored narratives like the beheading of John the Baptizer, the blind man whom Jesus took two tries to heal, and the cursing of the fig tree. By the end of that series, our congregation (myself included) gained a deeper appreciation, not only for the Gospel in general, but for the Gospel according to Mark. 

When preaching to the elderly, we should recognize their deep love of Scripture and encourage them to develop that love by leaning into the wild and surprising stories of Scripture through creative readings of the text and the latest biblical scholarship. 

Discover and equip preaching partners within your congregation

The preacher who ministers to a congregation of senior adults does not always have access to a staff of other ministers to support them in their preaching duties. It might be tempting to believe the honorable task of preaching falls solely on the preacher’s shoulders. But within such congregations, there are senior adults who have something worth saying. This is especially important to recognize because many senior adults find themselves being pushed to the margins in a Western society obsessed with consumerism, progress, and innovation. The elderly, in such circumstances, become a hindrance to be ignored and forgotten. In a world where senior adults’ agency, voice, and abilities are often discounted and derided, the church, then, can be a counter-cultural community where senior adults reclaim their voice and grow in their discipleship and gifting. As Stanley Hauerwas and Laura Yordy write, “Our common cultural images are not truthful depictions of the Christian life: old people are still called to discipleship in the community, and that discipleship may involve radical change in their way of life” (“Growing Old in America,” p. 16). 

At the Cornerstone Village Church, I have seen radical discipleship occur among the congregation not only through my preaching, but also through equipping senior adults to use their voices to edify their church family. This summer, I have led my congregation through a series on the favorite Bible verses of the church. Each week, I preach on a different member’s favorite verse; and midway through each sermon, that church member is given the opportunity to read that verse aloud and explain why it matters so much to them. Many of these women and men have never spoken from the pulpit before. And each week, I seek to equip a different church member to use their gifts and story to edify the congregation. As a result, many church members have discovered new God-given gifts within themselves that bless our church. This past Sunday, a church member co-preached Psalm 103 with me and challenged me and the rest of the church to bless the LORD always and to never forget the goodness of God even when confronted with the inevitable struggles of human frailty and mortality. Her message made the sermon better.

We must find ways to invite senior adults in our congregations to use or even discover their gifts, including the gifts of prophesying and preaching. This might start off with Scripture reading, a benediction, or an Advent Candle service. It might even begin with including a few members of your congregation in your preaching planning. Just start the journey and see where God leads you.

Preaching at the Cornerstone Village Church has been one of the greatest honors of my 10 years in ministry. I have learned to better love and respect my elderly brothers and sisters in Christ, I have learned how to preach in a unique ministry context that will shape me for the rest of my life, and I have learned to see the vitality and goodness of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of this congregation to bring about something new and beautiful here in Johnson City. When I envision the faces of the members of my church, all these formative lessons come to mind, and they inspire me to follow the lead of my senior adult co-preacher from this past Sunday in declaring, “Bless the LORD O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits” (Psalm 103:2).