AUTUMN SAINTS

WHITEWASH
Ezekiel 13:1-16
Psalm 27

The prophet Ezekiel has a message for us. Of course his message was directed to a different people at a different time and a different place, but his words have great wisdom for senior adults. Let me set it up for you. Ezekiel's nation, Israel, had rebelled against the God of Israel. They had been warned repeatedly that judgment was to come if they did not amend their ways. The clock was ticking. Time was running short. God's patience with them was running out. Ezekiel says that instead of warning the people and helping them to prepare for what was to come, their prophets were putting whitewash on crumbling walls. Now obviously this should be taken as a warning to all nations that forget the Sovereign Lord. But, this column is for senior adults. What might it say to us?

Aging happens to us all. There is nothing we can do to keep from growing one day older as the clock moves through its hours. We are crumbling walls. No matter how much exercise we do, how many antioxidents we eat, no matter how much botox we put under our skin to puff out the wrinkles, no matter how deftly we apply the hair coloring, we each are one day older every 24 hours. Obviously some of these things like diet and exercise can extend the quality of life as each day passes, but not one of them can relieve us of our mortality, and certainly hair dye, botox and plastic surgery are not going to do anything for us at all except to allow us to fool ourselves as we look in the mirror. Whatever we do, we are all going to die. The ravages of aging will come. For some it will be more obvious or drastic than for others.

Ezekiel tells us that God speaks about these prophets: They say "Peace", when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you. "Where is the whitewash you covered it with?"

My mother was taught that if she did everything right, she would be blessed. To her that meant that she would not have to suffer the effects of aging that others might have to endure. As she aged and her sight and hearing began to fail, she began to believe that God had not lived up to his word. She was angry. She had tried to do the right things all her life and had been largely successful. She was a righteous woman. And yet, here she was, bent over and aching, barely able to see, not catching the conversation of those nearest to her, outliving her beloved husband and all of her friends, not understanding modern technology that so consumed her children and grandchildren, and losing the memories that had brought her such comfort. In comparison to many the affects of her aging were moderate.

God told Ezekiel to tell his people that rain was going to fall, hailstones would come hurtling down, violent winds would burst forth and the wall would collapse. And I say the same to you. We will grow old, we will lose those closest to us, our bodies will forsake us, we will die. David holds out the truth to us. The Lord is our stronghold. When evil devours flesh God is my salvation. To spend time and money hoping that we can evade our mortality is evil. To accept that mortality with faith and trust, resting on the strength of our Lord who is light and salvation is heads and tales above whitewashing our crumbling walls.