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Aging and Imago Dei

Krista Westervelt, Associate Director, Partners in Health and Wholeness, Healthy Aging · May 24, 2022 · 3 Comments

Is there an expiration date on our inherent worth and dignity? An aging out of being made in God’s image? 

The past two pandemic years have been a litmus test of how our society and our communities live out our collective answers to these questions, especially as broad swaths of our population have been considered “expendable” based on age and other factors such as disability and chronic health conditions. 

Now, as Older Americans Month comes to a close, let us take the time to reflect on our faith communities’ answers to these important questions: 

  • Are we committed to not just recognizing the Imago Dei of the older people in our communities and congregations, but also acknowledging that sacred image through our words and actions? 
  • Do our ministries, supports, and programs reflect the dignity and agency of the older people in our midst? Their uniquenesses? Their talents? Their gifts? Their needs?
  • Are we taking care to ensure that we offer services and programs that are truly intergenerational, reflecting a spirit of being “all in this together” rather than being siloed into “us vs. them”?
  • Where have our words and deeds fallen short of recognizing the way each of us, regardless of age, ability or health status, are a reflection of the image of God?
  • How have we been successful at serving, being served by, and serving with the older adults in our midst?
  • What are some ways we can celebrate the diversity of older adults in our congregations and communities?

As you reflect on these questions individually and collectively, I invite you to reach out and share your successes and surprises, your hopes and challenges, so that we might celebrate and support one another on our journey of living into Beloved Community at any age or stage of life. 

Filed Under: Blog, Homepage Featured Tagged With: Aging, Health

About Krista Westervelt, Associate Director, Partners in Health and Wholeness, Healthy Aging

Krista is continuing on with PHW after completing her Senior Practicum internship in Peace and Conflict Studies with us in Fall 2021. She will complete her degree in Peace and Conflict Studies with a Gerontology minor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in May 2022 and is planning to seek her MDiv after graduation. Prior to joining PHW, Krista served the Chatham County Council on Aging as the organization’s Development and Communications Director. During her tenure at the Council on Aging, she was a featured panelist on "Creating, Fostering, and Maintaining Connections During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond" at the 2020 Meals on Wheels Virtual Conference and a co-facilitator on Senior Support and Care at the “Mental Health and Well-Being During the Pandemic” event hosted by NC State’s Institute for Emerging Issues. Krista is a member of The Community Church of Chapel Hill Unitarian Universalist.

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Comments

  1. Lisa Warren says

    May 27, 2022 at 7:57 am

    I was not offended after reading Aging and Imago Dei. I understood the loving intent. It is difficult to balance a multi-generational congregation. My church offers three different services and it is obvious that different age groups are drawn to different styles of worship and music.
    Depending on the filters formed by each person’s life experiences, we each react differently. I do think Betsy is painfully aware that the American culture does not value or respect the wisdom of seniors. Perhaps if the second bulleted important question included “Their wisdom?” Betsy would reacted differently. ??

    Reply
  2. Betsy T Thigpen says

    May 24, 2022 at 6:40 pm

    I would encourage you to learn a different language and different phrasing as you discuss seniors. I am 84 and I am offended. We not only have needs – some more than others – but we have a wisdom, an elderly wisdom, for which you apparently have little to no recognition – at least as I read in this email.

    Reply
    • Krista Westervelt, Associate Director, Partners in Health and Wholeness, Healthy Aging says

      May 24, 2022 at 7:09 pm

      Hi Betsy,

      I appreciate your response and your concerns and am grateful that you shared them with me. Indeed, older adults do have wisdom to offer all of us. I had hoped to convey this in these open-ended questions, which challenge each of us to reflect on the ways in which our faith communities recognize, uphold and celebrate the diversity of gifts and talents of older adults in our communities and the ways in which we can both serve one another and serve alongside one another (in contrast to cultural conventions that fail to recognize that wisdom and those gifts). My hope was and is that we can recognize a balance between gifts and needs and find the beauty in that balance (and that we also recognize where we fall short). I am saddened to hear that I failed in conveying that as clearly as I had hoped.

      Feel free to reach out to me directly if you would like to discuss this further.

      -Krista

      Reply

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