October is my favorite month! There is just something about this season that makes me feel alive and my wife and I have many traditions this time of year. We’re huge Harry Potter fans, and one of our traditions as the misty days quickly approach Halloween is to watch the Harry Potter films a bit more than usual. Sometimes we do this for hours at a time watching multiple movies in one sitting.
In the Harry Potter story is the classic battle between good and evil and the constant promise that the general good and love, when paired with a great deal of faith, hope, and hard work, will always win.
Alex Gallimore
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One of my favorite quirky objects in Harry Potter lore is known as the cloak of invisibility. This is an ancient article of clothing which allows its wearer to immediately vanish during times of danger or during those moments in life when it would be beneficial to go unseen. Throughout the films, Harry Potter frequently goes incognito underneath the protection of his cloak of invisibility on his quest to defeat the evil Lord Voldemort and restore order to the wizarding world.
Though I’m certainly not what I would call a “seasoned minister,” my short time serving as a pastor has revealed to me that many members of our congregations go through life under a cloak of invisibility. There are certainly those who come to worship with their deepest guilts, failures, and heartaches masked behind Sunday morning facades.
While it is always a pastoral role to counsel these toward discovering their truest selves in an effort to stop their charades and to become the people God had made them, this is not the kind of invisibility which worries me the most.
On a recent Sunday morning, a senior member of our congregation walked to the front of the church during our hymn of reflection and response. I saw her coming and walked to meet her in an effort to prevent her from having to travel too far with little to aid her balance. She took my hand and rested her head on my shoulder. I’ll never forget her words. “I feel so invisible” she emotionally whispered into my ear.
I had just preached a world communion sermon on the love of God who is truly so mindful of mortals that at the moment of creation, we were created and declared “good” and made to live in the presence of a loving God. The message had touched her in a special way yet despite her affirmation of this truth, she still felt overlooked and forgotten. Although she did not use this language, she felt she was walking through her senior years wearing a cloak of invisibility.
I read a lot of books and articles on leading a missional congregation and being open and affirming to all people. I’ve participated in countless service activities targeted at those inside and outside the church and know all too well the statistics on how to reach various age groups in ministry.
When I speak to many of my colleagues and parishioners, it seems the the greatest point of anxiety is how we go about reaching younger generations and seeking to change the conditions of “the least of these.”
While it has always been and continue to be my hearts desires to do just that, I fear that in our frenzy to seek justice, be hospitable, grow the younger demographics of our churches, we’ve overlooked and failed to minister to the needs of an entire and sadly unknown group of people.
In our righteous quest to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8) all while sustaining financial and numerical growth, we’ve placed the cloak of invisibility on many of those who built our churches and first guided us the faith. We’ve failed to respect the contribution of our elders and honor our fathers and mothers.
We have not, as the Apostles have called us payed careful attention “to all the flock” but have instead tried to forget about those once their service to us has run its course. While I’m certain no church does this intentionally, we must be aware of how our aging congregants may be led to feel.
The woman who walked the aisle that Sunday has been such a source of encouragement to me as a young minister. Her stories and the stories of other senior adults I’ve met with have inspired me to lead a ministry which honors the past and builds a future in continuity.
As we seek to be ancient-future Baptists, we must not forget those who go unnoticed in our present. We must lift the cloak of invisibility and truly hear their stories and see their faces.
Alex Gallimore ([email protected]) is pastor of Hester Baptist Church in Oxford, N.C.