Greetings,
This Sunday, October 6, marks the start of Seniors Week in Victoria. In conjunction with this, the Victorian Seniors Festival will take place throughout October with many free or
low-cost events being run across the State. According to organisers, the idea behind the festival is “to celebrate the more than a million Victorians who make such a valuable contribution to our society”, as well as “getting out and about in your local community and beyond.”
It is a wonderful thing that we take time to celebrate the more senior members of our
community, but surely this is something that we should do more than for one week
or month!
Tiffany White (University of Rochester) wrote these words in 2016 when she was 21. She says, “the anti-aging market is projected to be worth $191.7 Billion in 2019 driven by the aging Baby Boomers generation. Aging impacts a person’s health, fitness, and beauty – all of which have negative connotations within society.”
This is both a sad reality, and surely a futile, exercise. Firstly, there is so much to celebrate as we age. (Note I say we … for it happens to all of us … and we will all be a little older when we’ve finished reading this than we were when we started.) As we grow older we have stories to share, knowledge to give and experiences that, if we share them, might help younger people from making mistakes. We have lived lives that are worth celebrating and, like fine wine, maybe we even get better with age!
Secondly, nothing can change the age that we are, and focusing our energies on trying to do that can take us away from the things that we love which bring life to us. In the words of the great William Wallace from Scotland, “Every man dies, but not every man truly lives.”

Let us focus on truly living all the days that are available to us and remember the promise of God who declares that “I will pour out my Spirit upon all”. Let us be a people who know how to truly live, assured of God’s promises to us.
Blessings – Rev Heather.