The Parting Words of an Aging Warrior

Last Sunday was my final Sunday at First Presbyterian Church Pembroke. Here is my retirement sermon. It is one of my better efforts - well worth the time to read if you are willing.

My Dad told this joke at his retirement party – it is a little risqué but I’m sure that you can handle it.

The older doctor suggested that the young doctor who would be replacing him after he retired - accompany him on his rounds so that the community would become used to their new doctor.

At the first house a woman complains, “I've been a little sick to my stomach.”

The older doctor says, "Well, you've probably been overdoing the fresh fruit. Why not cut back on the amount you've been eating and see if that does the trick?"

As they left, the younger man said "You didn't even examine that woman, how did you come to your diagnosis so quickly?"

"I didn't have to examine her. You noticed I dropped my stethoscope on the floor in there?

Well, when I bent over to pick it up, I noticed a half dozen banana peels in the waste bin. I knew that was what probably was making her sick.”

The younger doctor said "Pretty clever. If you don't mind, I think I'll try that at the next house.”

Arriving at the next house, they spent several minutes talking with a younger woman. She just didn't have the energy she once had and said "I'm feeling terribly run down lately.”

"You've probably been doing too much for the Church," the younger doctor told her. "Perhaps you should cut back a bit and see if that helps.”

As they left, the elder doctor said, "I know that woman well. Your diagnosis is almost certainly correct, she's very active in the church but how did you arrive at it?"

"I did what you did at the last house.

I dropped my stethoscope and when I bent down to retrieve it, I noticed the vicar under the bed.”

David has been king for a long time. His kingdom is still growing, money is coming into the treasury, the army is strong & defeating one enemy after another. Everything is going David's way, and the Old Testament Lesson we just read a few minutes ago he is probably about 60 years old.

One day the bugle blows & the call to war is sounded. The army of Israel must once again battle the Philistines. Without hesitation, David grabs his sword & marches off to war.

Now you need to remember that David was a great warrior. He goes down in history as one of the greatest fighting men ever to hold a spear & sword. He had 30 mighty men beside him, & the Bible says that they had the strength of a hundred. But David was the greatest of all his warriors.

Now as David went off to war, he probably recalled some of his victories, of defeating Goliath, of killing the lion & the bear. Maybe he remembered how agile he was when Saul threw his spear at him, & he was able to dodge it not once, but 3 times.

And as he remembered, he may have said to himself, "I'm just as good as I ever was. I'm as strong, & my mind is just as keen as it has ever been. I'm ready for battle anytime!"

So - David led his men off to war. But the Bible says that in the heat of the battle, David became exhausted, & some translations add that he stumbled & fell.

As he was lying there on the ground, a cousin of Goliath came at him with a bronze spear & a new sword, ready to finish him off. If it had not been for Abishi, David would have been killed.

But Abishi came to his rescue & killed the Philistine, picked David up, & helped him back to camp. I imagine that as they walked together, David said, "I just don't know what happened. I lost my footing.

I know I could have taken him. I'll be back on top of my game tomorrow."

But that night, as David & his mighty men sat around a campfire & talked over the events of the day, there must have been a long silence. One after another his men cleared their throats.

Finally, someone said, "David, my king, I think you need to go home. It's time for you to retire from fighting. You're too valuable to the kingdom to stay out here & risk your life in battle. It's time for you to go home."

Maybe there was a long pause, & then David said, "Go home? Well, maybe someday, but today?" "Yes, David, it's time for you to go home."

And as you watch the scene unfold, you see an old warrior climb into the chariot, muscles that once were strong & taut, now growing weak, hair that once blazed in the sun, now is silver. A face once ruddy & handsome, now is etched with the long lines of old age.

You see a man with slouched shoulders ride off to a place of safety. A mighty warrior going into retirement. Kind of sad, isn't it?

There is an old newsreel that features the 50th birthday of Mohammed Ali – the greatest heavy weight champion of all time.

I remember when he fluttered like a butterfly & stung like a bee. I remember when he dodged & bobbed, & his left hook & his right jab were so awesome that some of the greatest fighters not only respected his prowess but were afraid of him. I remember when he was the fastest thing on two feet in the ring, shouting, "I’m the greatest. I’m the greatest of them all!"

But by the time of this newsreel he was slow of speech & step. Some say he took too many punches to the head, or maybe too many years had come & gone. He had once been the heavy weight champion of the world but those days were long gone. It was hard to look at.

David had been a mighty warrior, but his fighting days were now over.

David was told, "Never again will you go out with us to battle. That part of your life is over. But you will still be the lamp of Israel, & that will not be extinguished."

So David began another chapter in his life, one where he would no longer fight but shine!!!”

What did David do once he got home? Did he vegetate? Did he go fishing? Did he play a lot of golf? Did he just drift off into oblivion?

Not David! Because he was now the lamp of Israel, & some of his greatest contributions were done in the latter years of his life.

You know the first thing he did? He started buying ground on which to build the Temple of God, a place to house the Ark of the Covenant. He started calling in architects & drawing plans. He bought materials & made arrangements with contractors. That was one of his retirement projects.

David never got to build the temple though. That was left to his son, Solomon.

But the groundwork was laid by David in those golden years when he was a Sr. citizen.

David also got busy writing some of his greatest psalms.

When people become discouraged, when people are in mourning or facing hardships, when they're depressed & stressed & can't see the end of the tunnel, where do they go?

They don't go to the writings of Samuel or Ezra. They don't read about David & his success as a warrior. They read his psalms. One of the most beloved books in the Bible is the Book of Psalms, much of it written when David was an old man who was too old to fight any more. He was no longer a warrior, but he was still the lamp of Israel.

All of us go through phases in life, times when our energy is at its peak, times when we have courage & strength, times when we can fight the battles & be on the front lines.

But there also comes the time to go home & start the next chapter of life.

David didn't vegetate, he made his greatest contributions in the last part of his life.

There is a part of me who still believes that while I know that I’m seventy-one – I certainly don’t feel that way.

In many ways I still feel that I’ve got what it takes to continue the battle – that - "I'm just as good as I ever was. I'm as strong, & my mind is just as keen as it has ever been. That I'm ready to continue to fight the good fight for Christ as your minister.

But after three years with you – and some forty plus years of ministry its now time for me to go home. I enjoyed the front lines of fighting the good fight for Christ but I know that I am no longer the mighty warrior that I once was – and this church deserves a mighty warrior who is on top of his or her game.

Yes - it is time for me to go home - but - I promise you that I will not be going home to vegetate – I promise you that I am going home to shine – there is much for me to achieve as a lamp for Christ in the time I have left and I plan on making whatever that is happen.

Thank you for allowing me to be your minister for the past three plus years. I enjoyed every minute of it and I’d do it over again in a flash if I was still up to it.

Yes - my fighting days are over and it is now time for me to shine for Christ. And this you can count on - shine – I will. Amen.

Let us pray

Lord, here I stand with a new horizon ahead of me. I know I am entering a later phase of life, yet I feel so much the same inside.

Help me to seize each sunrise, and fully live each day. May I be guided by You, and walk into this new landscape with hope and confidence.

May I engage with the beauty of creation, and connect with the passions, hopes and dreams I had as when young.

My prayer is not to leave anything behind, but to walk forwards into all I can be, all I can enjoy, and all I can give.

To this new page

The next chapter of my life

– Shared with You Lord.

Amen.

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