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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-02-09, Page 15February 12:2 Cor. 4 "Supernatural Splendor from Chipped China" Christ-centred, Bible-believing, lio'n ship-friendly, Crowth-p,Tared ..rra. Living/Water Cfiridiaarellwahip 10:30 a.m. - Worship & Sunday School at Blyth Public School, corner of King & Mill Mondays 6:45 pm Junior Girls Tuesdays 7:30 pm Small Group Fridays 7:00 pm Youth Group Pastor: Ernest Dow - 523-4848 getlivingwater.org 6,1 11. We can remember the first satellite placed into orbit The Russians did it; it was called 12. One of the big fads of the late 50s and 60s was a large plastic ring that we twirled around our waist; it was called the (I tried this quiz on a friend in her early forties, she didn't do all that well and she had no idea what television show the Beatles were on as she was a baby at the time.) Don't you hate it when current events turn into history? I find that sometimes I am nostalgic for a quieter and gentler time and then I remember outhouses, coal oil lamps, race riots and polio scares and today doesn't looks so bad. I have a love of words and am always looking up things in the dictionary - the latest was Definition of Senior more advanced in age Older or oldest in standing comMUnitY Chi! r of 01401 001 "The Church is not a RS 4° ANDE 0 Building, lt It is People Touching People" Sunday 9:45 a.m. - Power Hour Circus (Ring of Relationships) 11:00 a.m. - Worship Service Mid-week Bible Studies Phone 440-8379 308 Blyth Rd. E. - Pastor Les Cook 523-4590 , MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS Sunday, gehttafty 12 11:00 a.m. - Sunday Morning Worship - Sunday School 9:30 a.m. - Sunday Belgrave Service Wheelchair accessible Nursery care available Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831 Peeade tout ea 604 40144 Sunday, February 12 Morning Worship Service - 10 a.m. Evening Worship Service - 7:30 p.m. BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH Pastor John Kuperus Hwy. 4, Blyth 523-9233 Wheelchair accessible THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA 0eleamed vela to come aid woftdift eat% cto SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 Trinity, Blyth St. John's, Brussels 9:30 a.m. 11:15 a.m. The Rev. Tom Wilson, B.A., MDiv. 887-9273 HURON CHAPEL EVANGELICAL I MISSIONARY CHURCH Auburn - 526-1131 PASTOR DAVE WOOD SING A S01\1 OF atse - Family Bible Hour - Morning Worship Service - Evening Worship Service - Jr. & Sr. Youth Bible Study - Olympians - Adult Bible Study BLYTH UNITED CHURCH Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street Sunday, February 12 Worship Service, Sunday School & Nursery 11:00 a.m. Sweetheart Luncheon Chill Contest after worship this Sunday. Come and vote for your favourite chili made by members of our various committees and the Minister! Soup and hot dogs will also be served. Minister: Rev. Robin McGauley rie/Zuceawge Office: 523-4224 Blyth United Church is a welcoming community of faith. We celebrate God's presence through worship and study, and through responding to the needs and gifts of each other. 6 Sanctuary BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA Sandra Cable, Worship Leader Church Office 887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wIghtman.ca Sunday, February 12 Ethel United Church 9:30 a.m. Annual Meeting after church - coffee Brussels United Church 11:00 a.m. Annual Meeting after church - finger food Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2006. PAGE 15. From the Minister's Study Superior in age or standing Of higher or highest position Senior citizen - old person - above specified age Well, we were doing alright until we got to that last item - for what is the specified age? It used to be retirement which was age 65 and then there was "Cash for life", " working for the government", "the golden years" all pretty well known and defined. But much has changed and even the rules have changed; mandatory retirement is gone and now early retirement is the norm, many are retiring in their early 50s and they are not going to be sitting on the porch, reminiscing. They are going to be out there claiming the seniors discount (I have become quite 4, The story you are about to see is shameless in doing so both here and true. The names have been changed in Europe) and also exploring new challenges. 5. In the jungle, the mighty Today, we are now faced with a jungle, new definition - senior citizen is 6 After the twist, the mashed what you make it to be. And so, I potatoes, and the watusi, we have bad and good news for the "danced" under a stick that was senior of today. This is just the lowered as low as we could go in a beginning not the end. There will dance called the always someone older than you, definitions keep changing and so instead of looking at labels sit back and enjoy the ride because... As of Jan. 1 the first babyboomer turned 60! We have gone from hippies to abbies (aging baby boomers) 4.5 million in the U.S., approximately 450,000 in Canada and this is just the first year. From now to 2025 more will be added to that group. So now we all have to rethink where we are - for boomers are not, now or ever, a quiet lot and they are a very influential lot - their thinking By Rev. Cathrine Campbell Melville, Brussels Knox, Belgrave Presbyterian Churches First, I have a little test for you (courtesy of the forward button on the Internet) 1. After the Lone Ranger saved the day and rode off into the sunset, the grateful citizens would ask, "Who was that masked man?" Invariably, someone would answer, "I don't know, but he left this behind." What did he leave behind? 2. When the Beatles first came to the U.S. in early 1964, we all! watched them on the, show. 3. Get your kicks, Current events now a part of history 7. Satchmo was America's "ambassador of goodwill." Our parents shared this great jazz trumpet player with us. His name was 8. What takes a licking and keeps on ticking 9. Red Skelton's hobb character was . and he always ended his television show by saying," Good night, and 10. The cute little car with the engine in the back and the trunk in the front, was called the VW. What other names did it go by? and is that 60 is the new 50, 70 the new 60, 80 the new 70 and so on And this quote from Newsweek magazine tells us - to say boomers expect to stay young isn't just a figure of speech, it is a statistically verifiable fact. "Babyboomers literally think they're going to die before they get old," says J. Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich Partners, the polling company, which found in one study that boomers defined "old age" as starting three years after the average American was dead. People 60 years old today have an actuarial life expectancy of 82.3, but boomers don't consider themselves bound by the laws of statistics; they "fully expect that advances in health care and genomics are going to enable them to live past 100," says Smith. Presumably they are counting on those advances to offset the fact that 30 per cent of them are obese. "We don't expect to die—we expect to be cured," says Mild Ross, the Illinois teacher. She went to four funerals in one month last year, for her mother, her aunt and her brother-in-law's parents. But those were all from a different generation; when her own sister had breast cancer three years ago, she had a mastectomy and survived. "We get a diagnosis, and we look for somebody out there who can help us," Ross says. Life expectancy certainly can increase. In 2003 - the latest statistics I could find - for the U.S. the average life expectancy for a white male was 75.4 and for a white female 80.5 - interestingly these were the figures for 1990-1992 in Canada, one of the figures cited for the efficacy of our health system. In 1903 the average life expectancy for a man was 49 years and a woman 51. Quite a change and one disturbing note for the men; the gap between men and women has moved from two years to approximately five years. Regardless of our age we might want to tell the boomers there is more to life than "I want", given in large and loud tones, we have to show that much of what is worthwhile in life is from what we have and what we have come from. We know that we are given much by our Creator and have been taught well when we learned that service to country was and is important and vital to the healthy future of the country that care of others was and is vital and so we have universal health care, and old age pensions and that we are not isolated, exquisite beings but real people who give, through our churches, our clubs, our community organizations and we give to give, not to get. Sunday 9:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday 7:15 p.m. t - Wednesday 6:30 p.m. 7:00 p.m. The senior of today is not to be sitting in some sterile "safe place" The place where seniors are at is looking toward the future - not rusting out, but wearing out - getting older and better. Old, or older seems to be a word to be avoided, unless you are a wine, a cheese or a painting but perhaps we have missed realizing ...... that seniors are like a truly fine wine - mellowed over time with experience, joy, laughter and sor-rows orra like great cheese - made from the best stuff - God does not make junk - and ripened to perfection by heat of life experiences or like a real old master painting - with lines and liver spots and silver and white hair and all the samples of aging that make us beautifully unique. So perhaps old is not a word to be avoided it is just a misused word if we apply it to only one time and place. We should be grateful that we, regardless of chronological age, are old enough to make good, life Continued on page 18