by Rev. Eric Folkerth

It’s my birthday this week, and it’s a big one. I’ve been joking that it’s my “2nd Annual 59th Birthday,” but I think you can do the math.

I’m having what is likely to be a large and somewhat chaotic birthday party at our house Friday (tomorrow…). I hope you’ve heard about it and if you’re free, we’d love to see you all.

If we’re up for it, when we have these “milestone” birthdays, they allow us the opportunity to reflect on life.

One thing everybody tells me: Sixty isn’t as old as it used to be. For example, this week people have been trying to soothe me by saying…

“Sixty is the new fifty…”
“Sixty is the new forty…”

I even heard somebody say “sixty is the new 25.”

That last one seems like a mighty big stretch. But OK…whatever gets you through the night.

But, surely we know this to be true: On average we are living longer than we used to. Further, on average, our population is far healthier than it used to be.

I saw photographic evidence of this just last week. I’ve been digitizing old family movies, taking them from VCR tapes to digital files. And I stumbled on the tape of my mom’s 60th birthday party.

When *she* turned sixty —twenty eight years ago next week— she decided to throw a big party and invite all her friends. Since they’re roughly the same age, Mom tried to get Dad to join in and hold it as a joint party for the both of them, but he didn’t seem up for it.

So, when the night came, we all gathered at their house, and it was a joy to see all Mom’s friends…as it was to see them on the tape last week. A blast from the past.

But, when the camera panned to a quick shot of my father, Dennise immediately said, “He looks older than you…”

But, of course, in that shot he’s exactly the same age I am now…

So, yeah…one of the blessings of life these days is a feeling that if we take care of ourselves and the fates all line up…we might end up living longer, healthier, lives.

That is certainly my prayer for me…and for you.

September has always been a “Birthday Month” in our family. Maria’s was last week (same day as my grandmother’s). Mine was yesterday. And Mom’s would be next Friday. And so, for two decades now, on some mid-September night, the three of us have always gathered together to celebrate with a meal.

Maria and I both cried a bit on the phone last night remembering that. Joy and sorrow all mixed together these days.

I thought of both Mom and Dad a lot last night as I took a birthday-night bike ride around White Rock. There were a lot of memories swirling.

Dad was a cyclist. He and I used to sometimes ride White Rock together. There is a section of the lake trail —just near “Big Thicket”— where I have a very clear memory of one ride with him. I don’t know why this is.

I mean we rode around the lake dozens of times together, but for some reason a memory of him and me at that exact spot always pops up on almost every one of my nearly 1,000 circuits around White Rock Lake.

Farther down the trail, there’s a bench dedicated to my friend Mark Daves who died far too young. Mom once wrote a letter to Mark’s widow in which Mom assured her that she would “see Mark in the sunset.”

And I saw Mom in my birthday sunset last night.

As I reflect on my own past, present, and future, a favorite quote of John Wesley leaps into my brain.

Wesley, as you may recall, was a very “enthusiastic,” devoutly evangelical young man. In fact, he was so opinionated in his spiritual beliefs —so stridently committed to HIS way of praying, studying, and learning about God— that, frankly, he annoyed a lot of people.

I mean, I hope you know that the very name “Methodist” was first used as an aspersion against Wesley and his young male cohort of Oxford College friends. They were so sure of themselves. They were probably not too fun to be around.

But age gave great wisdom to John Wesley. When Wesley himself was an older man, a young man wrote *him* a letter. It was a publicly reproduced letter asking Wesley to account for some of his views. I’ve never seen the whole letter, but you get the sense that this young man is very likely a young John Wesley himself…very sure of everything.

But as John Wesley replies to this young man, he is now far older and wiser. Throughout his long life, Wesley allowed his beliefs to change and grow. He believed passionately in the PROCESS of spiritual growth, not the claim that “I have arrived and am the fount of all knowledge.”

There is a humility, especially in his later writings, that many people in our time could stand to hear.

So I’ll close with a quote from John Wesley. It’s one of my favorite passages from him, precisely because it shows the valuable lessons that age, wisdom, and experience can bestow on us. I hope you find that it’s as true for your life as it has been for mine.

Here’s Wesley’s response to that young eager man who I believe reminded him a lot of himself:

“Permit me, sir, to give you one piece of advice. Be not so positive, especially with regard to things which are neither easy nor necessary to be determined. I ground this advice on my own experience. When I was  young I was sure of everything. In a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as before. At present I am hardly sure of anything, but what God has revealed to man.”

John Wesley