How to 'number our days' (2)
Practice 'orientated prayer'
Peter Carruthers
As I mentioned in the first article in this series, the end of a year and the passing of time (including my own time) got me thinking about age and finitude, and I was reminded me of the well-known words from a psalm attributed to Moses: “teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). I started exploring this theme in the first article.
Here, I would like to say a little more about old age and prayer, and the connection between the two. (But don’t stop reading if you feel that ‘old’, ‘older’ or ‘ageing’ do not apply to you; the biblical lessons here apply to anyone of any age and you will, anyway, arrive in those categories sooner or later!)
We are all getting older
There is a lot of old age about and a lot of it is in rural areas.
The current median age in the UK is around 40 years; in 1980 it was 33. Compared with some other Western nations, however, the UK is relatively youthful. The median age in Italy is 48 years; in Germany, Spain and Greece it is around 46 years. In contrast, the median age in most African countries is below 20 years, with the lowest at 15 years in Niger..
In 2023, the Centre for Ageing Better reported that “over 10 million people were aged 65 or over in England, making up 18% of the population”. The report goes on to note that “the older population is growing fastest in many rural and coastal areas, where the proportion of older people is already higher. In some rural and coastal local authority areas, one in three people are aged 65 and over compared with one in five across the country.”
Social attitudes
Our culture has a somewhat schizophrenic attitude to ageing, unable to decide whether older people are an asset or a liability, a blessing or a burden.
Traditional societies venerated old age, which was synonymous with wisdom and merited respect. Modernity changed all that.
In 1933, lyricist Al Dubin wrote:
Keep young and beautiful
It's your duty to be beautiful
Keep young and beautiful
If you want to be loved.
The song even provides the formula to staying young, beautiful and wise: If you’re wise exercise all the fat off. Does that mean that only the young and beautiful (and slim) deserve to be loved? Please!1
Several centuries before, Shakespeare was similarly rather unhelpful about old age. The closing lines of Jacques’ gloomy soliloquy, ‘All the world’s a stage’, in As You Like It, paint a very unflattering picture of the last stage of life.
Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion; Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
In his soliloquy on the death of his wife, Macbeth describes life itself as a “brief candle, a walking shadow… a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
Biblical wisdom
In contrast, the Bible has much good to say about old age. Age brings wisdom. The aged, and even one of the emblems of age (ie grey hair), are to be respected and honoured. And the key to living long and ‘ageing better’ is to live close to the Lord and observe His commandments.
Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? (Job 12:12)
Grey hair is a crown of splendour; it is attained in the way of righteousness. (Proverbs 16:31)
The glory of young men is their strength: the beauty of old men is the grey head. (Proverbs 20:29)
Stand up in the presence of the elderly, and show respect for the aged. (Leviticus 19:32).
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord … shall still bear fruit in old age, they shall be fresh and flourishing. (Psalm 92:13-14)
A gift and a task
The Bible also offers many instances of how the Lord entrusted significant tasks to older people, such as Abraham and Sarah, Miriam, Aaron and Moses, Caleb, Zechariah and Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna (who I discuss below), and many more.
As US Roman Catholic theologian, M Therese Lysaught, put it “in the scriptures, old age certainly did not signal a time for the leisure of retirement”. Old age, she avers, is “a gift and a task”.
Lysaught cites a document issued in 1998 by the RCC’s ‘Pontifical Council on the Laity’ on the ‘Dignity of Older People and their Mission in the Church and the World’. This recognised many aspects of the special value and role of older people in churches, including in charitable work, preaching, worship, and strengthening family and community. In particular, it envisaged a special role for older people in prayer and contemplation.
“Older people should be encouraged to consecrate the years that remain hidden in the mind of God to a new mission illuminated by the Holy Spirit. In this way, they may give rise to a stage of human life which, in the light of the Paschal Mystery of the Lord, is revealed as the richest and most promising of all. Older people, with the wisdom and experience, which are the fruit of a life-time, have entered upon a time of extraordinary grace which opens to them new opportunities for prayer and union with God. Called to serve others and to offer their lives to the Lord and Giver of Life, new spiritual powers are given to them.”
Lysaught also quotes Pope John Paul II, whose writings, she notes, offer a “rereading of old age. Countering the stereotype of ageing as solely a time of passivity, decline, dependence and social nonutility, he claims instead that the ageing are empowered by God in a new way”:
“Older people, with the wisdom and experience which are the fruit of a lifetime, have entered upon a time of extraordinary grace which opens to them new opportunities for prayer in union with God. Called to serve others and to offer their lives to the Lord and Giver of life, new spiritual powers are given to them.”
Of course, we all know that much of what happens in many churches, of all denominations, and especially small rural churches, is already largely down to the older members of the congregation and has been for many generations. But, maybe, it is time for a new impetus and understanding of the role of older people within the Church, for a deeper layer that role, and a sense of explicit vocation?
The central thrust of Lysaught's article is to call for the re-establishment of an ‘Order of Widows’. Such an order is believed to be implied in Paul’s instructions to Timothy not to “let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number” (1 Timothy 5:9). Commentators are divided (of course), but many see the ‘number’ not as referring primarily to widows who qualified to receive welfare, but to widows set apart to serve the church, alongside the ‘elders’ of the subsequent verses (1 Timothy 5:17-25). Post-apostolic sources confirm that this practice continued for several centuries.
Lysaught is writing from a Roman Catholic perspective, but, as she notes, “the roots of this practice in scripture and tradition challenge the spectrum Christian traditions to develop analogous, ecclesiology fitting counterparts”. I would also argue that such an understanding should not be restricted to widows, but encompass older men and women, married or single.
Simeon and Anna
Let us now turn to two quintessential biblical ‘oldies’, Simeon and Anna, and see how their gifts and tasks provide inspiration and guidance for us also as we seek to serve God, at any age, but particularly when we are on the ‘home run’.
Simeon and Anna appear in Luke’s account of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:22-38). They were one of the ‘three couples’ I discussed in this article (where you can read more on the background and significance of both).
Anna and Simeon were both (very) old. Both provide role models of how to ‘age well’ and be useful in the Lord's service well into one’s latter years. And for both, prayer was central to their way of life.
Anna was either eighty-four or had been a widow for eighty-four years having been married for seven years, making her at least 105. She is described as a prophetess who “did not depart from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day” (Luke 2:37). Anna’s dedication to worship is important for us. We shall spend eternity in worship so it is surely a good thing to start now, and more so as we approach the close of this life.
Simeon’s great age is inferred from the text (eg “Lord, now you letting your servant depart in peace”, Luke 2:29). Some early Christian traditions make him several hundred years old and one of the translators of the Septuagint (LXX), the 3C BC Greek translation of the OT (as quoted by the NT writers). St Jerome, however, argued that the LXX’s Isaiah was translated by Simeon in the 1C BC, which would make Simeon not quite so old. I explored the connection between Simeon and Isaiah here.
Although Luke does explicitly describe Simeon as constantly in prayer, his devotion to prayer is, I suggest, implied in Luke’s describing him as, “just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him”.
The Temple
For both Anna and Simeon, prayer is also implicit in the setting of the narrative - the Temple, the house of prayer.
Luke’s prologue, his account of Jesus infancy and coming-of-age Luke 1:5-2:50), recounts three encounters in the Temple in Jerusalem.
Zechariah, on ‘incense duty’ in the Temple, meets the angel of the Lord who announces the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-25).
Simeon and then Anna meet Jesus and his parents; Simeon prophetically declares who Jesus is and what is to come, and Anna gives thanks and tells others the good news.
Jesus stays behind in the Temple after the Feast of the Passover, and is found listening to and questioning the teachers of the Law (Luke 2:41-50).
The next time we see Jesus in the Temple in Luke’s gospel, it is to drive out the traders and money changers. Quoting Isaiah (56:7), he declares that the Lord’s “house is a house of prayer” (Luke 19:45-48).2 He is then seen teaching in the Temple daily (Luke 20:1).
Finally, after Jesus’ ascension, at the close of Luke's gospel, we see the disciples “continually in the temple praising and blessing God” (Luke 24:53).
The Temple, then, signifies the place of prayer and the imperative to pray. Figuratively, prayer is what you do in the Temple, and the Temple is where you pray.
Ad orientem
However, the Temple speaks not only of prayer, but also of the place of God’s presence, and the destination of pilgrimage (eg Psalms 84 & 122).
Psalm 84’s, “blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage”, can also be translated, “blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion” (Psalm 84:5). The first three (Psalms 120, 121, 122) of the fifteen Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120 - 134) describe a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Temple and the psalmist’s joy at the prospect of going to the “house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1).3
Following the tradition of synagogues in the Roman diaspora, for many centuries, western church buildings faced east, towards Jerusalem and the site of the Temple, of both its historical and eschatological manifestations (eg Ezekiel 40 - 47; Joel 3:18; Zechariah 14:6-8). Churches were (and many still are) ad orientem, ’orientated’, in its literal sense (if you are disorientated, it is because you are not facing the Temple!).
East also signified the rising of the sun, symbolic of Jesus’ resurrection before dawn, the rising of the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2), and the direction of His return (Zechariah 14:4; Matthew 24:27). East is also the location of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8), indicative of the heavenly temple, of Paradise.4
Understood this way, many old village church buildings, like the one pictured above, becomes a physical representation of the direction of both our daily worship and prayer, and our pilgrimage of life. Both are directed towards the sanctuary, representing paradise, heaven, eternity. The church above even has the four rivers of Eden carved in stone in the vault of the apse (see below).
Our daily prayer and worship, and our pilgrimage of life, are, therefore, to be ultimately focused on the unseen world, the age to come. As Paul wrote:
We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)
And, of course, the Lord Himself instructed us to pray to “Our Father in heaven”.
Such a mindset applies to all who seek to follow Jesus. But perhaps it is more immediate as we become more aware of the frailty and finitude of this life. Rather than having ‘one foot in the grave’, older people should, I suggest, think of themselves as ‘halfway to heaven’!
In the third article in this series, I will explore what ‘orientated prayer’ might look like and how we might practice it (regardless of our age!).
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you. I have been as a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day. Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.
O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and grey hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.
(Psalm 71:5-9,17-18)
The song featured in the 1933 B&W film, Roman Scandals and the 2001 Broadway revival of Warren and Dubin's 42nd Street. It has been covered by many artistes since.
Mark quotes the last phrase of Isaiah 56:7 in full: “My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17), thus referencing the salvation of the Gentiles foretold in that chapter of Isaiah and echoing Simeon’s reference to Isaiah 49:6 (Luke 2:32).
Verses from Psalm 122 have been used in Westminster Abbey in the coronation ceremonies of British monarchs since those of King Charles I in 1626. Hubert Parry’s setting accompanied King Charles III arrival at Westminster Abbey at his coronation on 6 May 2023.
The Temple itself was aligned with the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, at the western end. It was, therefore, entered from the east, with the rising sun behind the worshipper. Indeed, to pray with one’s back to the Temple and face east and (worship) the rising sun was an abomination (Ezekiel 8:16). Effective prayer was to be made in (2 Chronicles 7:15) and towards the Temple (1 Kings 8:35); hence, when Daniel prayed with his windows open towards Jerusalem, he would have faced (approximately) west (Daniel 6:11).