Re-framing retirement[1]
Sidney worked hard
all his life. He was well-regarded by his employers, cared well for his family
and was active in his church. The day Sidney qualified for the aged pension was
retirement day. He quit his job, left his church roles, said goodbye to his wider
family and was last seen hitting the highway for a 12-month 4WD trip with his
wife.
Sidney’s retirement
fits a common pattern in the western world. The years after employment are seen
as a time for self-indulgence in the dreams of a lifetime and for spending
freely on your heart’s desire.
Such a frame on
retirement is uncommon globally and historically. Most people in most places at
most times continue in some form of work until they are incapable or until they
die.
What is a Christian
frame on retirement?
First some
foundations:
1.
We are
made for work. Work was part
of human identity before sin disrupted God’s creational design (Gen 2:15).
After the fall, work continues, but is now part of the fallen human condition
(Gen 3:17-19). We can expect to work again, with pleasure, in the new creation
(someone needs to pick the delicious fruits and harvest the healing herbs – Rev
22:2).
2.
Work is
more than paid employment. The
world of employment contracts, wages and salaries is a comparatively recent one
and is unknown in the majority of the world even today. Even in the west, the
unpaid activities of childminding, care of the aged or disabled, community
service, church volunteering and such like deserve to be included within the
word ‘work’.
3.
The
Bible speaks against idleness.
Various texts teach those who could work, but choose not to, will suffer for it
and don’t deserve sympathy or help from God’s people (eg, Pvb 19:15; 31:27; 2
Thess 3:6-12). All who can work, should have something that they can call
‘work’.
4.
We are
made for rest. God provided
for a weekly rest day which is a recognition of our creaturely limitations and
a reminder to trust his provision for us (Ex 16:1-5; 20:8). Yet awaiting is his
eternal rest (Heb 4:9-10).
5.
We are
mortal. This life ends in
death, unless the Lord returns first, or we are taken up like Elijah (2 Kings
2:1-12). Whether our years are 70, 80 or more we are frail creatures who will
return to the dust from which we were made (Gen 2:7; Ps 90:9-10, 103:14-15). We
are to be wise about our mortality (Ps 90:12) and especially to remember our
creator before it is too late (Eccles 12:1,6-7).
6.
We
decline with age. Most of us
will have declining capacity and strength as our years pass and death’s shadow
looms (Eccles 12:2-5).
What does all this
imply?
There is a time
to leave paid employment or at least step back. This creates employment
opportunities for younger workers and helps refresh workplaces, including in
ministry employment. It also avoids the sad picture of the workers who just
won’t let go. However, retirement from employment is not the same as retirement
from work.
Consider these samples
of people who retired from employment but kept working:
· A widowed librarian left employment in her
early 60s and served as a volunteer to establish libraries and train local
librarians in an overseas theological college and then two small Australian
colleges;
· A couple sold their computer business,
down-sized their home, upskilled as ESL teachers and gave themselves to serve
through language teaching outreach to refugees through their local church and
on the mission field;
· An accountant left paid employment aged 57 and,
with his wife, became a self-funded missionary using his professional skills in
a difficult location and is still serving in his 70s.
· A finance industry worker left employment in her
early 50s for an intentional ‘next chapter’ of serving family, church ministry,
some part-time lower level employment, along with hobbies and travel.
· Two women retired from mental health employment
and developed resources in a Christian approach to church-based first aid in
mental health.
These people retired
from employment but did not retire from work. They are like Moses who served
until his death at 120 (Ex 34:7) or Paul who spoke of pressing forward rather
than resting on his past (Phil 3:7-14). This is retirement reframed as an
opportunity to continue serving.
To balance that it
needs to be said that there may be seasons of life when withdrawal from
activity for a period of contemplation, refreshment and renewal is apt. Hence
early church figures like Augustine and Chrysostom who withdrew for
contemplation after their conversions. Or the person who uses long service
leave, or the space between employment, or after their last employment to give
themselves to rest and to personal improvement of some kind. But then the time
comes to again fulfil the creational mandate and work while there are hours in
our days (Jn 9:4; 11:9). And so, Chrysostom and Augustine each soon left their
temporary retreats to give unwearied work in the Lord’s service as great church
leaders.
By all means let’s
retire from employment, slow down, and take time to enjoy the life that God
gives. But let’s keep fulfilling our garden identity by working in God’s world
and serving according to our capacity and circumstances. That enduring work of
ours is a thank offering for Christ’s work for us and in expectation of the
eternal rest to come when he returns.
There is a time
to recognise that the time has come to lay down our labours and surrender to
rest (2 Tim 4:6-8). However, many in the western world seem to confuse
retirement from employment with retirement from work and seek to enter that
rest too early.
The last word is John
Piper’s. At the end of a book on retirement he says: Here is my prayer for
retirement – Lord, spare me this curse!”.
Re-posted with permission from Australian Presbyterian: https://ap.org.au/2019/12/13/reframing-retirement/
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