I despise the term “flunking retirement.”
Last December, after 44 years of “active” ministry — 27 years with the Presbyterian News Service after 17 years of pastoral ministry in San Francisco Presbytery — I “retired.” But I didn’t retire from ordained ministry or from service to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), my spiritual home. I merely stopped receiving a biweekly paycheck for that service.
My dear friend and mentor Houston Hodges told me of my retirement: “Take it as a kinda new level of ordination, where you don’t have to take money to do fun stuff.” I love that advice and I’ve tried to take it to heart.
In my years with the news service, I frequently found myself — when visiting underfunded and understaffed ministries — saying, “Wow, I wish I had the time to help out here.” This bucket list of service opportunities has grown very long over those years. But now I have the time.
When a devastating family illness sidelined a friend at San Francisco Theological Seminary in April, I volunteered to step in and do what I could in my alma mater’s alumni relations office. I spend one week a month on campus and colleagues on staff there think I’m making some great sacrifice to do it. Never mind that one week a month in San Anselmo is no great sacrifice — I love my seminary and the educational experience it gave me and I’m delighted that I have the time to offer. (Full disclosure: After several months of serving as a volunteer, I now receive a modest stipend. The money’s nice and I feel deeply for those who cannot afford to retire, but I would continue do this “work” for free.)
I have recently added more “fun stuff” to my retirement — I will shortly begin service as stated clerk of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery. I owe this one to my father, Bob, who as a ruling elder served as a presbytery and synod stated clerk for 38 years. Being a stated clerk must be in the family gene pool, for my dad loved his stated clerking more than he ever did his “real job” and continued as stated clerk long after he “retired.”
While I was discerning the call, one trusted friend asked, “Why the hell would you want to do that?” Because it’s fun stuff.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese political leader who spent 15 years under house arrest for her resistance to that country’s military dictatorship, was recently asked why she was willing to make such a sacrifice. “Why do you call it a ‘sacrifice’?” she responded. “I do this for the love of my country — it is not a sacrifice.”
I cannot compare anything in my life to what Aung San Suu Kyi has experienced. But I resonate with her motivation — particularly in my retirement. My love for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) keeps me doing what I’m doing. It is not a sacrifice. And it certainly is not “flunking retirement.”
JERRY VAN MARTER retired last December after 17 years of pastoral ministry and 27 years with Presbyterian News Service. In retirement he is serving part-time as alumni relations advisor for San Francisco Theological Seminary and as stated clerk for Mid-Kentucky Presbytery. He and his wife, Eva Stimson, live in Louisville, Kentucky.
