[Note: Your comments and constructive criticisms are invited. Whether it be praise or disapproval, our only requirement is that it be done in the framework of a Christian spirit. All items under this heading reflect the personal views of the respective writers and not necessarily those of this journal or the denomination at large.—Editors.]
There are many attitudes toward retirement. Some men like to take those final years to do some of the things that the busy activities of the workaday world have precluded. They want to retire to a small farm or a large garden patch and try out some ideas they may have gathered as to methods of horticulture. Some just want to sit and read and contemplate things past, present, and future. Others want to get out that History Book and reread the record of God's story of the past. Some want to spend the remaining years enjoying the children and grandchildren God has given them. Many desire to search for that Edenic climate denied to them through the years of their regular service.
All these plans are fine. Be sure you carry them out. But also take part in the work of your local church. You might have vigor enough left to move into virgin territory and raise up a new church. Conduct Bible studies. Counsel the younger men who have moved into the places you and other veterans have vacated, if they ask you for counsel. But let your activities end there. Younger, though perhaps not wiser, men have been chosen to carry on where you served. Let them have their day. Do not try to run them. Expect them to make mistakes. Do not censure them for it. Do not create in the minds of these younger men the thought that only you know how to carry on the work. Quite frankly, to create such thoughts would be self-idolatry.
Another matter. When the time comes to retire, retire. We all have seen the sorry spectacle of the prominent preacher (we are now speaking from observation of several, some of whom are personal friends) who could no longer stand for thirty or forty-five minutes in the pulpit and preach with compelling vigor a logical, connected sermon. Such men had reached the age when the gift of mental lucidity for such a presentation was denied them. But they hadn't reached the point of admitting to themselves what was so obvious to others. And so they go on for years past the time when they should try a long public discourse in the pulpit.
Please, Mr. Preacher, when you come to that point, whether it be earlier or later as far as years are counted, do not inflict yourself on the public. Well do I remember a very prominent preacher. He had been one of the most stalwart and talented men of his generation. While he was in his prime I confess I never saw a more effective man in public. But the time came when he could no longer progress from point to point in his sermons as he had been wont to do in the years gone by. He had the stance, the crescendos and the pianissimos that ended with a fortissimo. But the trouble was he was no longer saying anything effective.
But some men can write well for years after they can no longer speak well. In the case of such, we laymen will appreciate reading more and still more of your books.
As the years creep on you, look for the signs of loss of effectiveness. If you are wise you will take counsel with others in whom you have confidence. Ask them whether you have passed the zenith of your work and make plans to bring your activities in line with your remaining talents. There is no more pitiable picture than to see one who has been so winning in the pulpit, but who has passed the years of his effectiveness, still trying.
Diction and Accent
This is a very delicate subject, one hard to deal with without either being misunderstood or causing hard feelings. But it is a subject that needs to be dealt with, for it is one that can greatly restrict one's ministry.
During my years in the work I have lived in different parts of the world and in several sections of the U.S.A. English is spoken with greatly varying degrees of accent where I have worked. When one moves from one section of the U.S.A. to another he will find varying degrees of accent changes, and also quite a bit of variation in word usage. To me it is interesting and charming to hear my mother tongue spoken with various accents. Most words will be understood anyway. But you will find that most of our members would rather hear a sermon during which the subconscious mind is not exercised interpreting the speaker's accent.
Well do I remember a speaker I heard nearly forty years ago. I was living in central New York State at the time. This preacher in question came to speak at our camp meeting. I do not remember his name. Neither do I know whence he came. But I will never forget his sermon; one word in his sermon, that is. He introduced that word early in his discourse and he used it dozens of times before he sat down.
His pronunciation was so strange that I completely failed to understand what he meant. As he kept repeating the word I tried in every way I could to understand it. I listened carefully to his context to try to get the meaning that way. Unfortunately it did not occur in any of the texts he read from the Bible. Otherwise I could have gleaned the meaning. Finally, just before he sat down he used the word in such a way that the meaning could not be mistaken. At last I had found out what he was talking about, but I had missed all the spiritual benefit I might have gained from the sermon by trying to understand the meaning of that one word.
If we are to be understood, and therefore if we are to be effective in our ministry, we must speak in a way that the people will understand. It is expecting too much for one from overseas and who comes to the U.S.A. in the prime of life or later, to hide all the accent of the land of his origin. But each one who comes should listen carefully to the English spoken where he resides and imitate that as carefully as he can. His work will be much more appreciated, his sermons will be much better understood, and his adaptability will mark him as one who seeks to be understood by the common people, not merely by the highly educated.
Be careful of word usage when you change work areas. Words mean different things in various sections of the country. For instance, what is a "hap"? Only Pennsylvanians know. What is a "poke"? Two or three areas use that word. What does it mean to be "nebby"? We could go on and on with illustrations. Especially if one goes overseas one must be very careful with his language.
Personal Appearance
Most of us like to dress well. At least we like to dress in a manner suitable to the work we have at hand. The preacher is no exception. When he works in his garden no one expects him to wear his pulpit clothes. Neither should he wear clothes suitable for the garden in the pulpit. When he goes on a hike with a group, clothes suitable to the weather and the trip are proper. Practically all of us understand this. What I really would like to mention is that the clothes should fit properly. Preachers vary in body build the same as the rest of us. But I am of the opinion that preachers have more than average influence. They need to watch their body shape, insofar as being overweight, more than the average person, because their influence is greater.
What kind of effect do you think an excessively obese preacher would have preaching a sermon on temperance? The bulging waistline, the shaking jowls, the panting breath, speak eloquently of intemperance. It would be better to have some other speaker pinch-hit for you when it comes time to speak on temperance.
Yes, the pew looks at the pulpit. Let us have the inspiration we are looking for.
