I like the comic strip “Dustin” by Steve Kelley and Jeff Parker. The other day Ed, an overweight, aging lawyer was at the doctor’s office. “Ed, you have a very simple choice. Start eating right and exercising more.” Ed says, “Wait. That not a choice. Having a choice means there’s at least one other option.” “Of course,” says the doctor. “You can shorten your bucket list.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Everyday,” November 28).
Life expectancy in the United States is falling. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report it’s down to 78.6 years, putting us 29th in a ranking of nations. Japan is first with 84.1 years, Switzerland second with 83.7 years. “The effects of addiction and despair, particularly among young and middle-aged adults, as well as diseases plaguing an aging population and people with lower access to health care, have contributed to a decline in life expectancy in the U.S.” (Wall Street Journal, November 29: A1, 6).
Doctors, like Ed’s, focus on treatment and health habits. Social agencies dedicate themselves to people at risk for various reasons. Who can bring together all the aspects of our years, whatever their number? Birth, habits, stress, disease, health, aging and finally death… Who can put all that into a comprehensive understanding for you and me? The Church! The ministry of your congregation is, or should be, God’s answer to prayer. “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Not simply a social agency, although God has appointed good works for Christians to do (Ephesians 2:10), the Church helps us understand our lifespans spiritually, in light of our Creator and Redeemer’s word. If Ed went to church after being told to shorten his bucket list, he might have heard, “We do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
For me, the new normal is getting close. Not to worry! “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8).