Today I celebrate the anniversary of the day I was born, and that got me thinking. I am now in the midst of mid-life (not a mid-life crisis, though!). I have been thinking quite a bit about mid-life and it’s benefits and about life-stages in general and what they bring to our lives. It seems that at each life stage we are faced with challenges and benefits that accompany us on our journey (I think I originally began thinking about this from reading Kenda Creasy Dean’s, Practicing Passion).

Infancy - dependence
Childhood - wonder
Adolescents - passion
Late Adolescence - mid 20’s - idealism
Early Adulthood - energy, industrious
Mid-Life - resources, stability
Retirement - wisdom, experience
Senior - wonder, dependence

Anyway, the list above represents some early thoughts about the dominant challenges/benefits that come as we journey through the stages of our lives. There is much more that could obviously be said about this, but it makes me wonder what does this mean for our churches. Too often the practice in the church is to divide every life stage into homogeneous units. Classes and events are planned and designed to target specific age groups. It makes me wonder all that we are missing by avoiding the mixing of generations and folks from various life stages. We miss the the wisdom of a 70 year old reflecting on the wonder of a child. We miss the passion of a teen calling us to follow God’s heart for the lost and least of these; and the resources of one in mid-life catching the passionate/idealism and taking a risk to finance the new endeavor.

I pray that our churches would stop dividing up the Body of Christ into neat and convenient “ministries” or “departments.” I pray that we would “be one” as the Father and Son are one. I pray that our churches would reflect a unity, amidst diversity. Not just an appreciation for the Gifts of the Spirit; but also the unique and diverse challenges and benefits that accompany our stage of life. I pray that we would value and come to appreciate our need for one another. I pray for the day when our churches would reflect our God-given humanity; redeemed and reflecting the image of God - Our wonder-filled, passionate and industrious God. The God who does not change and the God who calls us to impossible tasks. The God who has everything we need and who is full of wisdom and full of power. May the Body of Christ that gathers in each of our churches become a place where all belong, all contribute and all learn from and sharpen one another. A place where a child can lead, a teen can point us to God’s heart, a 20 something can remind us of how it “should” or “can be,” an adult lends her experience to sharpen another, a 60 something share his life with a 20 something…

May it be.