This dramatic call to worship was used in a Presbytery worship service about aging.
Usage notes:
This Call to Worship explores the variety of ways that the Bible talks about aging. There are three different leaders (OLD ONE, YOUNG ONE, and JOB), and congregational response nearer to the end. I have included the scripture citations here for reference, but they are not intended to be spoken aloud. The congregation should be provided the whole script, so that they can follow along.
OLD ONE (walks with a cane): “Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.” (Ps 71:9)
YOUNG ONE: What are you talking about, Old One? The Lord says, “Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am the One, I am the One who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” (Isa 46:4)
JOB: (sits between them) But Young One, “Isn’t wisdom found among the aged? Doesn’t long life bring understanding?” (Job 12:12)
YOUNG ONE: Yeah, Job, but Old One has it wrong! “They will still bear fruit in old age; they will stay fresh and green.” (Ps 92:14)
OLD ONE: “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of our days are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.” (Ps 90:10)
JOB: “I thought, ‘Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom” (Job 32:70), BUT, “It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right!” (Job 32:9)
YOUNG ONE: “You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a time and then vanishes.” (Jas 4:14)
CONGREGATION: Excuse us!
OLD ONE: “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come!” (Ps 71:1)
YOUNG ONE (grabbing Job’s arm): “Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly, and revere your God!” (Lev 19:32)
CONGREGATION: Excuse us!
OLD, YOUNG, and JOB: WHAT?!
CONGREGATION: We want to worship God!
YOUNG ONE: We’re kind of in the middle of something here! We know that God, “satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s!” (Ps 103:5)
OLD ONE: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps 90:12)
JOB: I’m starting to think we’re not going to settle this.
YOUNG ONE: “The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.” (Prov 10:27)
OLD ONE: “When you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” (Jn 21:18)
CONGREGATION: God blesses us all – young and old, weak and strong, sick and well!
JOB: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Ps 73:26)
OLD ONE: “With long life I will satisfy God and show the Lord my salvation.” (Ps 91:16)
YOUNG ONE: “People shouldn’t brood too much over the days of their lives because God gives an answer in the joy of their hearts.” (Ecc 5:20)
CONGREGATION: Can we all agree now?
OLD ONE, YOUNG ONE, & JOB: “We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor 4:16)
CONGREGATION: “The Lord is our strength and our shield; in You our hearts trust. So we are helped and our heart exults, and with our song we give thanks to God.” (Ps 28:7) Let us worship God!
OLD ONE, YOUNG ONE, JOB: Hallelujah! Amen!
~Rev. Elana Keppel Levy
This is under a Creative Commons license, so that you may use it in your context with an attribution.
