Retirement and Hope - Phillip Newell

A sermon preached at St Peter's Bay West 22 October 2008

by the Rt Revd P. K. Newell, AO

Text: Hebrews 5:6; 1 Peter 1:3-5

Retirement and hope

We have all weathered a number of stressful times over the years. So we hardly need the experts to tell us that great stress is occasioned by, changing jobs, by moving house, and by retirement.

Most of us can count the parishes we have ministered in, the houses we have lived in, and, like Merle and me, you know well the challenge of the retirement experience - what it is like at first - and what it gradually becomes.

Retired clergy

But retirement is a little different for clergy and for spouses too, I suspect. Different, I mean, from retirement from other professions and jobs. So we joke that we are not really retired, rather we are retreaded. Behind that humour is a deep spiritual reality. That reality is the call of God, the reason why we offered for training and ordination in the first place. In short, I mean our vocation, our call from God, which, like ordination itself, is indelible. It never goes away.

That means, if you are like me, one stil1 feels called to preach the word, to administer the sacraments, and to care for God's people. We no longer have a cure of souls, and, for opportunities to minister, we depend upon the invitation of others, as well as upon continuing health and strength.

But we remain 'priests for ever, according to the order of Melchizedek'. (Hebrews 5:6)

Nevertheless a question remains, a question about retirement, about how we cope, about what our faith says to us at this stage in our lives. I doubt that the Bible says anything specific about retirement, but one of the theological virtues is surely relevant.

We are men and women who have, to the best of our ability, held fast to the faith. We continue to strive to live in love for God and for neighbour.

But what about hope - Christian hope?

Perhaps it is hope that can speak to us especially in retirement; hope that can lift us out of any limitation we may be experiencing in our lives, hope that can be our watchword.

Hope born of our long journey with God. Hope that can characterise our ministry to those around us. A palpable hope which could speak loudly in today's environment, which so often seems rudderless, hopeless. So, are we then men and women of hope?

Not merely hopeful. Certainly not 'hoping against hope'.

The hope of which I speak is not to be confused with mere optimism; nor expecting the worst whilst hoping for anything better than that.

So exactly what do we mean by hope? That's where the Bible can assist us.

Christian hope

Christian hope is rooted in three things - in the presence of God - and in purpose of God - and in activity of God in Christ. And the presence and purpose and activity of God belong as much to the future as they do to the past and the present.

In fact, we live between the 'already' and the 'not yet', between what God has done already and its final consummation. In other words, we are still on the road, and it is Christian hope that keeps us going.

Central to that sustaining hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So in the First Letter of Peter we read: 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time'. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

The writer speaks of 'a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead'. It is important to grasp the connection between the hope we have and the resurrection of Jesus. For we are dealing Not with theory - but with a living person. Not with a natural process - but with a great act of God. Not with an ancient myth - but with eye witnesses. Not with a magical ceremony - but with a living relationship to a living Saviour. Truly, 'By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope'.

Inevitable progress?

One can read of the great optimism of the late 19th century. That was quickly destroyed by the two world wars of the 20th century.

Theories of inevitable human progress, so it seems to me, have little credibility. But hope - sure and certain hope - based on the faithfulness and the trustworthiness of God - that is the hope that can lead us onward with confidence.

For some of us, this has been our annus horribilis.

Yet we can still sing with conviction:

All my hope on God is founded;
He doth still my trust renew.
Me through change and chance he guideth,
Only good and only true.
God unknown,
He alone
Calls my heart to be his own.

Reference:
Stephen Neill, Bible Words and Christian Meanings, SPCK, 1957