Does it really take a village?

I was listening to NPR this morning and they had a segment on the challenges facing the elderly in this country. One of the big challenges facing millions of aging Americans is how to grow elderly without leaving their homes. They have established lives, with friends and communities that mean a lot to them. Understandably many older folks don't want to move halfway across the country to live with their kids and even more balk at the idea of moving into assisted living or senior apartments. And as Betty (an 80 year old interviewee) said: " "We like to be around young people," she says. "There's so many walkers over there, and I feel sorry for them because they're in these long corridors."

So what is Betty's solution? She (along with many others around the country) are founding 'villages'. As the article describes them villages are "an organized network of volunteers dedicated to doing what's needed for seniors to stay in their own homes. For an annual fee, these communities help seniors manage household tasks they can no longer handle and arrange transportation when they can no longer drive." Whether an older person needs work done on the house, transportation to and from the doctors office, or a bit of expertise with electronics, these villages (and their many volunteers) are there to help. And this story is far from rare. As the article puts it "There are already 50 of these nonprofit groups around the country, with 100 more in the works — and it's a trend that's expected to gain steam as baby boomers hit their golden years."

So the question we face is simply this: how are we as Christians to react to such movements? On the one hand it's wonderful to see people reaching out to the elderly. In an age when so many view anyone over the age of 65 as useless it's wonderfully encouraging to see elderly people get support and assistance from their local communities and networks without falling back on government programs or expensive professionals. But something is not quite right here.

The testimony of the New Testament clearly shows us that we need not rely on any of the means listed above to care for the elderly. At the end of the day it's not up to governments, neighborhoods, or 'villages' to care for the elderly. Why? The answer is simple: you don't need a village when you have the church. The book of Acts gives us insights into many of the practices and beliefs of the first generation of Christians. A cursory glimpse at the first eight chapters of Acts shows us that the early church was very intentional about ministering to the weak and downcast in their midst.

How did they do this? The first (and primary) way that the early church cared for the elderly is stunningly ordinary. They called the family, and specifically the children, of the elderly to provide for their comfort and care. As the apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 5:8 "if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." It was through the mundane, day in and day out, life of the home that the church cared for the aging in their midst.

When this was not an option (either because of the callousness of the children or because the elderly person did not have any children) the church cared for them through a vibrant diaconal ministry. Acts chapters 3-6 pay special attention to the way that the early church provided not only for the elderly, but also for orphans, and anyone else who was in need. As Luke records it in Acts 4:34a "There was not a needy person among them..."

The third way the early church provided for the elderly and widows may be the most difficult for modern Americans to embrace. We live in a culture that values output, and older people are often not able to "produce" as much as they once did. Joints ache, memories fail, tempers run short, and life slows down. For us, the elderly are little more than a burdensome nuisance. But this was not the case in either the Old or the New Testaments. As Solomon rhapsodizes in Proverbs 16:31 "Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life." Indeed the book of Proverbs sounds the death knell for a low view of the elderly. Proverbs is a book about covenant succession. It's about passing down the faith from one generation to the next. And one of the most important ways that God does this is through the precious gift of age and experience. According to the teachings of Scripture (think Titus 2) the elderly are one of the single greatest gifts that God has given to the church.

We live in an age of unparalleled prosperity, yet many elderly folks in our midst suffer from lack of income and (just as importantly) from lack of love. What if the modern church were to look to some of the passages we've mentioned to care for the aged? What if the church once again called children and grandchildren to the mat for their negligence? What if we valued gray hair and wisdom like Solomon? Perhaps we don't need a village after all.