Threescore Ten and Then...

I like numbers. They are simple and dependable. Real mathematicians would, I am sure, argue that numbers are complex and indefinite. But to me they are simple and dependable. Two plus two is four. I have been playing around with numbers a bit this year.

 

In 2022, Robert and I both completed our seventieth years, and I have been thinking about that landmark. Individually we have each had ten cycles of seven years.

 

Psalm 90 observes that seventy years is the span of a life, or maybe eighty, if we’re lucky.

 

Lord, you have been our refuge

            From generation to generation.

      Before the mountains were brought forth,

      Or earth and world were born in travail,

From age to age everlasting you are God.

…

Seventy years is the span of our life,

      Eighty, if our strength holds;

…

Teach us to order our days rightly,

     That we may enter the gate of wisdom.

…

     Satisfy us with your love when morning breaks,

     That we may sing for joy and be glad in all our days.

      Repay us days of gladness for our days of suffering,

      For the years you have humbled us.

     Show your servants thy deeds

            And their children your majesty.

May all delightful things be ours, O Lord our God;

     Establish firmly all we do.

 

That is a pretty audacious prayer—wisdom, joy, satisfaction, days of gladness, a vison of the majesty of God —not only for ourselves, but also for our children—the gift of delightful things, and a life’s work that is remembered.

 

We have known a few of those things in our allotted seventy years. In this blog I hope to remind myself of some of those delightful moments that have been ours and also some of those years of humility that have allowed us to see the work of the kingdom of God more clearly. I also hope to explore the possibility that other good things may still be out there waiting, in the future, in our threescore ten and then…

                                           

In a couple of months Robert and I will complete our forty-ninth year of marriage—seven cycles of seven years—and begin our fiftieth, our Jubilee Year. In the Old Testament the Jubilee was intended as a year when the land was restored to its original owner, slaves were set free, and all debts were forgiven. In our Jubilee year, we hope to continue restoring our land and returning it to its rightful owner. My attempt at setting the captives free will be to continue my research into the enslaved people in Wilson County, Texas, and to tell their stories of strength, suffering, and freedom. We will try to live our lives with forgiveness as we have been forgiven (Matthew 6:12) and to owe no one anything except love (Romans 13:8).

 

That all seems a little audacious too. It reminds me of a benediction a dear friend of ours introduced us to a couple of years ago. These words are attributed to William Sloane Coffin, a clergyman and peace-activist.

 

May God give you the grace not to sell yourself short,

    grace to risk something big for something good,
    grace to remember that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth,

    and too small for anything but love.

So may God take your minds and think through them;
May God take your lips and speak through them;
and may God take your hearts and set them on fire,

in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

 

Now we begin— threescore ten and then…


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