I am in my 50s and I am amazed at how the elderly will treat the younger generation. They act like the younger generation is stupid, has no direction, has no respect or love for God, that their way is the only way, etc.
Our church is going through some difficult times and part of the problem is the elderly. Let me be fair, it is not all of the elderly, but a good majority of them. I love them, but frankly they need to get over themselves. They act like the church is theirs. News flash, it is Gods.
Some changes were proposed to attract more people of all ages and all marriage status. The elderly at our church were all up in arms about how these changes would take away from the purpose of the church. But they forget that the purpose of the church is to reach those that are lost. If we force a person to adhere to strict way of thinking, then we might as well close our doors because people these days have all kinds of ideas about religion and Christianity as a whole.
We need to present the truth to them through the scripture, not our ideas on how church should be operated. Christ while he did go to the temple, he also preached to the masses in the country side. Do you think they really cared about the clothes they wore, whether they had food or drink, whether they smoked, whether they may have talked to each other, whether they were delivered, whether they ran around in circles and shout hallelujah to the Lord. Fill in with any thought and ask yourself do you think Christ was really offended by what they did? I would bet the answer is he loved them, cared for them and wanted to know what hurt them, not whether they wore a suit and tie.
Outside the church I observe a lot of people and will actually base my decisions to hire or not hire a company on how the person who represents that company acts. But the point to this is I observe all people of all ages and what I have noticed is that the elderly seem very bitter towards the younger generation, they are extremely impatient with them and appear to have absolutely no intention of having any kind of interaction with them. To me that just seems so ironic.
Why ironic? Well this older generation was once young and like the younger generation of today they had thoughts, ideas, actions, etc., that the older generation of their time thought was stupid. The older generation of their time I am sure would be impatient and want nothing to do with them. I will venture to bet that most of the younger generation at that time said I will never treat people the way I was treated only to turn around and do exactly that.
I am not hating on the elderly, I am quickly approaching that group myself and I do find myself being impatient with anyone and everyone at certain times, I too think that that the younger generation is too young to possibly know, that they have not lived long enough to make these important decisions, you name it and I am sure I have thought of it. However, I have two children who are late teens/young adult and I had to decide to treat them as children or as adults. I decided to treat them as adults and let them make their own decisions with me providing guidance and support.
My daughter wants to go out of the country to an Asian country to study abroad for a year. The country she wants to go to I find questionable, but like I told her it is her decision. I did however explain to her why I thought it was a bad idea, but ultimately it is up to her and I will respect that decision and support her anyway I can.
So my advice to you who are older is to open your ears and hear what the young are saying. You do not have to agree with them and can explain to them why you disagree, but do not discredit them or you will lose their respect. This generation is searching and they will need your guidance, but it is just that guidance. Let them find their own path and who knows you may even start to adopt some of their ideas and build a beautiful relationship.
To the younger generation, be patient with us. People can change. However you need to not discredit they elderly as well. Most will have a wealth of information that can be very helpful and their ways are not necessarily wrong, they are just different.
I pray that both the older and younger generations will seek peace and comfort from the Lord and with each other. Exchange ideas, but do so in a loving way that shows respect for each other.
Have a blessed day!