| Older adults celebrate ministry during retreat By Linda Worthington
UMCONNECTION STAFF When you’re watching TV, “turn off the commercials. That’s a good time for praying,” advised Ken Steward, who spoke at the Older Adults Away retreat Oct. 13, in the character of Robert Strawbridge, dressed in tattered waistcoat and breeches. About 40 seniors met at the New Windsor Center for their annual fall meeting, called together by the Rev. Konni Brantner, conference chairwoman of Older Adult Ministries. The day was designed to be inspirational and informative, Brantner said. The Rev. Kenneth Jones led the singing, sprinkling hymns with stories from his memories as a missionary in Africa. “These words (hymns) were our basic theology in our youth groups when we were growing up (in the 1940s),” he said. Meg Baker, a member of St. Paul’s UMC in Kensington, played the piano and led a brief devotion on the “Autumn of Our Lives,” the theme for the day apart. Steward, with Strawbridge’s Irish accent, introduced himself by saying, “I was a carpenter, just like Jesus.” Listeners had an opportunity to learn some of the history of early Methodism through a Strawbridge portrayal by Ken Steward. The historic Strawbridge Shrine and John Evans house are only a few miles away from where the event took place. “In ’63 (1763) there were 1,160 Methodists,” Strawbridge said, “half from our ministry.” Switching back to himself, Steward asked, “We’re older adults, but if we put down our spiritual age, how old would we be?” Participants had the opportunity to attend three workshops. The Rev. Claire Fiedler, pastor of Halethorpe-Relay UMC, soon had even the arthritic participants doing liturgical dance during a workshop.  | LINDA WORTHINGTON / UMCONNECTION | Participants in an Older Adult Ministries workshop learn liturgical dance as part of their annual meeting and retreat. |
“Liturgical dance doesn’t have to be just to music,” she said. Some of the members danced while sitting down, following Fiedler’s instructions. She regularly teaches residents of nursing homes and taught the group how to dance “The Lord’s Prayer” from their seats. Jones also led a workshop, “Surprises from Cuba,” one of this year’s United Methodist Women’s mission themes. He spoke about many of the facts and myths that surround the island nation so close to United States’ shores. When Fidel Castro closed the churches and Christian schools throughout Cuba in 1961-62, he kept two seminaries open, Jones said. Today there are 60 house churches that attract people “like bugs to a light.” By the late 1990s, after perestroika and the demise of the Soviet Union, Castro allowed US missionaries to return and “they have flooded Cuba,” Jones said. “It’s amazing that the changes (in Cuba) are going so well.” The third workshop on “A Christian Perspective in God’s World,” was led by Judy Beisner, conference chair of the Board of Christian Presence in God’s World. The highly participatory group learned of many ways to be mission-oriented in their churches. In the workshop, Sue Shawhan of Good Shepherd UMC in Silver Spring shared a story of turning an unwanted old house into a home for a homeless woman and four children. She said the success of the mission project, which took more than a year, could be attributed to countless hours of volunteer time, several grants and a gift of $12,000 from the church. At the end of the project, the project committee returned the $12,000 to be used in ministry elsewhere. “It was just a faith thing,” she said. One man told how members of Overlea Chapel UMC used a sizeable inheritance to support missions they cared about, from the Heifer Project to assisting a Baltimore church with replacement of its steeple, which was struck by lightening. When Andrews Chapel UMC merged to become Overlea Chapel UMC, he said, “We couldn’t use the (assets from the merger) for operating expenses,” but they could use the interest to help many, including carpeting over the asphalt tile in the church. The spring meeting of the older adults ministry will be at West River United Methodist Center June 6. | 
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