No Retiring When You Work for Jesus

Story by Joe Pisani

My friends recently surprised me with tickets to a concert by Darlene Love, the legendary R&B singer whose trademark song is “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home),” which she performed for years on the David Letterman Christmas show.

Back in the 1960s, she recorded “He’s a Rebel,” written by Hartford native Gene Pitney, known as the Rockville Rocket, and other classics, including “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” which she didn’t get credit for because they were released as recordings for the Crystals, a popular girl group back then.

As a backup singer, she worked with everyone from Frank Sinatra to John Lennon and Elvis, who would sing hymns with her that they learned as children.

What else would you expect from the daughter of a minister who sang Gospel in the church choir? An Oscar and Grammy winner, Love still keeps a busy schedule at 84. And who does she thank for her career, her talent and her success? God.

One Gospel song she performs at every concert is “Marvelous,” written by Walter Hawkins, as an expression of her gratitude and faith.

The lyrics proclaim:

I will sing your praise
For you’ve done such a Marvelous thing
For someone so wretched
Yet my soul you have redeemed.

No one else could do it,
No one could care half as much
Yet you thought my soul was worth it
So you gave your only Son.

You gave that I might live,
You gave that I might be set free,
Exchanged your life for mine,
What a Marvelous thing you’ve done…

Those are powerful words to hear at a pop concert from an 84-year-old performer, who does a wonderful job sharing the Good News. As she praised God, my first thought was: With Jesus, there’s no retirement. No matter how old you are, no matter if you have millions of fans, no matter if you’re a relative unknown, God has a plan.

God told the prophet Isaiah: “Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you. I will sustain you and deliver you.” (Isaiah 46:4)

God has a long history of taking seniors and giving them BIG jobs. It’s not like the corporate world. He doesn’t mind if you have gray hair and wrinkles.

When Joshua, the leader of the Israelite tribes, was looking forward to a little relaxation, the Lord said to him: “Though now you are old and advanced in years, a very large part of the land still remains to be possessed.” Translation: Forget the vegetable garden and playing checkers at the senior center. Get to work.

Abraham was 75 and worshiping idols when the Lord came knocking and told him to set out from Haran to a new land, where God would lead him.

Let’s not forget Moses. God called him at 80 and told him to confront Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt.

None of them thought they could do what the Lord wanted. It was too overwhelming. They were too old. But God held them up and did the heavy lifting. They just had to say yes.

Last year, I met a woman in her 80s who runs the parish food pantry and another woman in her 80s who oversees a ministry that gives baby clothes to single moms and families in need.

My friend Maria has a prayer shawl ministry that she began in her 70s. This year she’s going to be 85 and she told me: “I wish I was 20 years younger. I retired from work when I was 75. Something is telling me I need to do something to help even more. I just want to do what God and the Blessed Mother want me to do.”

When you say yes to God’s plan, he finds a way to make it work, no matter how old you are. As Jesus said, “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

You see, Jesus isn’t the kind of guy who forces his senior employees to take a buyout package. He wants everybody — junior, senior and in-between to keep working. He’s always hiring, and in case you didn’t know, he has a great long-term benefits package.

So regardless of your age, never think God is done with you because he will call you out of “retirement.”

As Psalm 92 says: “In old age, they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain.” Darlene Love is proof.