"WHEN LIFE PLACES ONE ON THE SHELF"

TEXT: "Trophimus I left ill at Miletus" II Timothy 4: 20

INTRODUCTION I think we can be sure of this that it was not the wish of this man, Trophimus, to be left behind on the little island of Miletus

in the Mediterranean. Miletus was hardly anything more than a port of call. He would be stranded there for some time - out of touch, useless, inactive. I'm sure that he would much rather have gone on to Rome with his friend Paul. But he was sick, and his wish to be of further service to Paul, to be in his company, had to remain unrealized. "Trophimus I left ill at Miletus"

DEVELOPMENT A friend told me recently that he was 64 going on 65 and soon he would face mandatory retirement. The prospect was not altogether welcome.

He knew, he said, that he had slowed down a bit, but he had skills, experience and good health. He said he felt "good" for several more years. He didn't think that the time had come for him to be "put out to pasture". In a way he had something of the same sort of problem that Trophimus was facing. What is a man to do when he finds that life has placed him, so to speak, "on the shelf"? - "on the sidelines?"

I wonder if you are familiar with the term "suburban neurosis"? Perhaps not. It's being used by the medical profession with reference to middle-aged women who turn up at doctors' offices with many vague complaints - the chief one being that they suffer from lassitude and low spirits. Doctors relate this syndrome, as they call it, to three factors: the husband is away all day and many evenings; the children have grown up and are away at college; household duties are no longer demanding. When a woman has time on her hands, lacks the satisfaction of feeling needed, and fails to find new interests and activities, nothing is surer than that she will have bouts of depression and hypochondria.

ON THE SHELF - A PROBLEM Nm.r not every sermon is for everybody, but when I talk about finding oneself on the shelf I am dealing with a

life situation that is not uncommone Perhaps it's more of a problem in the second half of life than the first half, but some have to grapple with it long before then. "Trophimu.s I left ill at Miletus11 • In all probability Trophimus was a young man. Illness or accident can strike at any period of life, and when they do they can put a person on the shelf - it may be for weeks - or it may be for months, even years. What do we make of them? What lessons do we learn?

An older friend who had a heart attack and who lay immobilized in a hospital for weeks on end mentioned that he had learned two things. The first was that you have got to be in the hospital before you begin to understand what it means to be a nurse. Nurses hate to be romanticized, but all sentiment aside - if nursing isn't a vocation, then what does the word mean? And the second thing he learned was that he had been laid flat on his back so that he could look up a bit. His view of things had been far more horizontal than vertical. He was a minister and he acknowledged he had been so taken up with the world and its needs and problems that he had all but forgotten to look up to the supreme source of strength for action and concern about his fellowmen. His illness had helped him to get things into better perspective, to dinstinguish between the trivial and the vital, between the ephmeral and the eternal.

There is a dread, a fear everywhere of finding oneself on the shelf, yet many who have been taken out of circulation - invalids, shut-ins, physically handicapped men and women - have been a benediction to their fellow human beings and performed a service that puts to shame those of us who are sound in life and in limb.

and demonstrated a heroism ••••

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I We- thi:ek---o£.-.tlle-gr~e-s,:--Bee-tft~v€n,-eempos4ng-s-ome-of-h1:s-greate~

mu&ie-af:te~e-em-ing-wbel-l-y-deaf.-Paseal-writing-some-e..f--h4.-s-mest-sea.¥el14ag-sentene~

~e-in......the-tlu;!.Qe.s-OLi-llness .. I Who was it who once said, 11The best work is done by the mortally woundedn.

I'm also thinking of some of the people I have known over the years, some in this parish, disabled for the active work of life - on the shelf, knowing it, and the knowledge,: casting its color over all their ways - their speech, their letters, their attitudes. I've seen in them a new feeling of kindness for their fellow mortals, a new sympathy, a new empathy. They've discovered the true measure of thin!

!.?the abiding satisfactions, and with them, "the peace that passes all understanding".

Certainly the fear of finding oneself on the shelf is greatest in those who are on in years. They are ill-at-ease lest they should be, to quote anatha&~ePsQR, "a luxury article of no use to a.nybody 11 • The newspapers reported a well-knovm literary figure as saying as he came up to one more milestone in his life, "Oh hell, another birthday". And when H. H. Asquith toward the end of his long career in public life was defeated at the polls by a much younger man, he confided to a friend that he was "like an Arab - old and blind - whom some caravan had left behind". Churchill had a rough time when World ~var II ended. Britain, you 111 re­call, passed him by and voted Atlee in as Prime }tinister. Adenauer resisted having to make way for Erhard. DeGaulle is reluctant to step down. Those world figures illustrate what the problem is for practically eve~ybody who enters the final stretct of life. All this talk about growing old gracefully and cultivating new interests hardly touches the core of the problem.

"All the world 1 s a stage, and all the men and women merely players".

Whether the stage be big or small it takes a very special grace to step from the ceni to the wings without any sense of resentment or frustration.

HOW DOES 0~~ DO IT? The Bible, which is a transcript of human experience, provides us with pictures drawn to the very life of people whc

possessed this special grace in some measure. John the Baptist comes to mind. The time came for him to say farewell to his day of influence and power, to give up his prophetic office and to make way for his successor. He faced that crisis in his life magnificently - not with a swan song, but with ringing affirmations in which there was elation and no note of sadness. After me there comes a man who is preferred before me. "He must increase, but I must decrease". "Behold the Lamb of God". How did he do it? By bidding himself grow old gracefully? By seeking out and cultivating new interests? Not entirely ; there's more to it than that.

Paul, the Apostle also comes to mind. ~'Jhen Paul reached the city of Rome he was put into prison and kept there. There, he found himself forced on to the shelf of life. Recalling what he had crowded into his 60 years - preaching, teaching, organizing, traveling - he probably felt as if he had been "shelved" once and for all time. Yet, there was no trace of resentment or frustration in him. It never occured to him that he was a "luxury article of no use to anybody". You can't conceive of Paul saying, "Oh hell - another birthday". It was in Rome, in prison, that he perfor one of his greatest services for the Christian cause. It was there that he wrote the profoundest words that came from his pen, words of immortal faith and hope which across the centuries have inspired and sustained countless numbers of souls.

How did he do it? What was his secret? Because like John the Baptist, he was a man of faith. He had a vital religious faith. His life was rooted and grounded in God. He lived greatly because he believed greatly. When we think of John, of Paul,

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the other spiritual giants •••

Jesus himself - it is what we would like to do. We realize that we are living smaller lives than we should be living, and that if we are to take on moral and spiritual stature, we need - not merely new interests but greater resources, the horizons of the divine about us, a background of God in our lives. To live greatly, we must believe greatly. Remember that. And isn't this what draws us to church on Communion Sunday? For we come here to think of Christ, of His life and death, of his faith in God and man, the faith that was the main spring of his life and that in century after century, He has brought to birth in human hearts, and to have that faith - His faith - in us.

LET US PRAY As we come to thy Table this hour, we come, 0 God, seeking that measure of faith that we see fully expressed in the life of the

man from Nazareth. Deepen the faith that is ours. Broaden our horizons. May there come out of this time of worship - a new spirit of dedication to the tasks that call for our witness in the world. This we ask in the spirit of Jesus Christm Amen

PARK AVENUE METHODIST CHURCH

106 East 86th Street New York, N.Y. 10028

AT 9·6997

. CHURCH DIRECTORY

Rev. Philip A. C. Clarke .. .. ... .. ... ............... ....... .... Minister Dr. Harold C. Metzner ........ Associate Minister, Emeritus Mr. George P. Ridout ..... ... .... Minister to Young Adults Mr. Peter H. Hobbs .. ...... .. ......... .... .. ....... Student Assistant Mr. Mark A. Else ..... ..... .... ..... ....... ... .. ... ...... Choir Director Mr. J. Earl Weatherford .... .... .. ..... ...... .... ........... .. Organist Mrs. George Leech ....... .... ... ... .. ....... .. Day School Director Miss Linda Jean Jones ..... ....... ....... ..... .... Church Secretary Miss Ruth C. Stadler ..... ... ... ...... .......... . Financial Secretary Miss Vivian M. Taylor ........ .... ..... .... ... ...... ...... .... Treasurer Mrs. Christopher Greenough ...... ...... ... .... . Church Hostess Mr. Julius Deal.. ... .... ...... .... ... .... .. ... ... ................ .. Custodian

GENERAL OFFICERS

Lay Member, Annual Conference .... Mr. Paul R. Russell Lay Leader, The Church .. .. .. .... .. .. .... ...... Mr. Mark A. Else President, Board of Trustees ..... .. ..... Mr. Paul R. Russell President, Woman's Society ... . Mrs. James D. McDonald Head Usher .... ... ... ..... .. ........... ........ Mr. Robert A. Raeburn Education Commission Chairman .... ...... .... (To be filled) Finance Commission Chairman ........ Mr. Robert Johnson Membership Commission

Chairman ......... .............. ....... ... .... Mr. Paul M. Scott, Jr. Joint Commission on Mission and

Social Concern Chairman ....... ... ..... . Mrs. David Weber

INFORMATION FOR THE MINISTER

Name--------------------------------------

Address-----------------------------------(Please check reason for giving name)

0 Desire minister to call 0 Desire to join church

0 Change of address 0 Sickness

~ARK AVENUE

METHODIST CHURCH

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER May 1, 1966

ORDER OF WORSHIP 11 a.m.

ORGAN "Pastorale" C. Frank SCRIPTURE SENTENCES HYMN NO. 386 "0 Word of God Incarnate" RESPONSIVE CALL TO WORSHIP (Standing) Page 523 GLORIA PATRI PRAYER FOR PURITY (Seated)

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may per­fectly love Thee, and worthily magnify Thy Holy Name, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

LORD'S PRAYER

ANNOlnJCEJVIENT OF CONGREGATIONAL CONCERNS ANTHEM "Christe Eleison" F. Durante PRESENTATION OF THE OFFERING \rJITH THE DOXOLOGY HYMN NO. 387 "Break Thou the bread of life 11

r,1EDITATION "On the Shelf" Mr. Clarke PRAYER

THE SACRAHENT OF HOLY COMMUNION The Invitation by the Hinister The Scriptural Account of the Last The Sanctus (The Choir) The Partaking of the Elements

HYHN NO. 359 "Awake, my soul, stretch BENEDICTION ORGAN "Toccata"

->HH:- Interval for ushering

Supper

every nerve" Choral Amen

T. Dubois

AN INVITATION

Coffee and tea will be served in Fellowship Hall following the service. The hostesses today are Hiss Curtis, Mrs. Davis, Miss Grether, Miss Carter, i'liss Parks, and Mrs. Stubbs.

USHERS

The ushers today are Mr. Bo1rrater, M:r. Merget, Mr. Montaneli, I•lr. Paoch, and Hr. Tower.

ALTAR FU:mERS

The flowers on the altar today are given by r1r. and Mrs. Hichael R. Har'Wood of Greensboro, North Caro­lina, who were married in the church Tuesday, April 12.

CHURCH SCHOOL SESSIONS

The Nursery, Kindergarten and Primary Sessions of Sunday School meet from 11 to 12:30 on the 4th floor. Jpportunity for Bible study under the direction of Mr. Ridout takes place in Fellowship Hall (12:30 to 1:15).

EMERGENCY AID FOR INDIA

At the request of the Council of Bishops of the lVIethodist Church we are receiving a special offering for Emergency Aid to India. Envelopes for this spe­cial appeal are attached to the bulletin.

NEXT SUNDAY

Next Sunday we shall celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism. Couples with infants to be baptized should get in touch with the church office this week.

NEW MEMBERS

New members will be received Hay 29. If member­ship interests you, speak to one of the ministers.