We’re all growing older. No one is exempt from aging. Therefore, the Sedona Unitarian Universalist Fellowship affirms the inherent worth and dignity of all people, at all ages, and views the last years of our lives as every bit as important as the first years.
For UUs, wisdom development continues as long as we live. We are never too old to find deeper meaning in life and in what happens to us.
UU theology also stresses “interdependence,” meaning that each of us will need care, and each of us will provide care, at various points throughout our life.
We did not grow up by ourselves; neither should we grow old by ourselves. Aging well means finding a balance between gritty self-determination and gratitude for the assistance received from caring friends.
SUUF members include people from a wide range of decades who value growing older together. They gladly support people dealing with all sorts of life transitions. They help each other celebrate the benefits and joys of aging, as well as weather its challenges.
SUUF doesn’t treat elders as a separate group. Younger congregants welcome interaction with older members. One says, “We especially appreciate the intergenerational relationships here. We crave authenticity, so we delight in conversations where our older congregant friends ‘tell it like it is.’“
A SUUF group called “Evolving Elders,” attended by people whose chronological age spans three decades, meets bi-weekly. Participants delight in chatting with members who “have a lifetime of wisdom to share.”
And many who are still working or recently retired, don’t want to feel marginalized as part of a separate “elders’ group.” They aren’t. Many of SUUF’s most active leaders happen to be “70 or better,” as they call it.
Later in life, when some folks could begin aging out of regular participation in Sunday services, SUUF does what’s needed to make their presence easier–perhaps by arranging a ride to the worship service, offering an arm for support in finding a seat, or providing a supplementary hearing device.