Henry: I'm right on your heals, and I'm sure you're right. But too many of my old buddies seem to be just serving out their time in boredom and dull resignation.

Ella: Our word for today, taken from Paul's epistle to the church at Philippi, has wisdom for us old folks, and indeed for all ages. It's taken from the third chapter and I read verses 14 & 15a.

"I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature be thus minded."

You can see right away how it applies to our concern for the aged. Notice the word mature. The Apostle Paul was not specifically referring to maturity in terms of age; he was addressing the saints of all ages. But he himself was certainly well along in years, and possibly near the end of his imprisonment in Rome. Of course, maturity of various kinds can be attained at any age level. We've all seen some amazingly mature children and teenagers: How about 4 going on 40, or "Who is the mother? Who is the teen?" So all of you, please join us as we probe what Paul means by urging us who are mature folks of all ages to be "thus-minded."

Henry: Paul has just finished one of his typical temptations to boast. In fact, he has slipped in a small boast: it's about his standing as a Pharisee, blameless before the Law. But this is only to set us up for his main point. You see, he no longer takes pride in any part of his former high status. Now he wants most of all the prize of the upward call, which is righteousness. Then Paul adds, "Don't get me wrong. I haven't gotten that righteousness yet." The King James version says: "I do not count myself to have apprehended..." But he presses on towards the mark.

Ella: For seniors today, the message is clear. It is never too late and we are never too old to move forward, to grow, to improve ourselves. No matter how much we have achieved in the past, we need to be sure to keep looking ahead and doing better. No doubt, some of our peers will gratefully remind us of what we did for them in the past! And we will perhaps deserve their praise and thanks. But we ourselves can't live in this past glory. It is dangerous to look back too long.

Henry: During the 1996 Olympics in our home town, we were blessed to see just what Paul was talking about. Paul must have been a track fan, because he often uses metaphors from the track. When he says "I press," he's talking about running the last miles in a 26 mile marathon. And when he says he is forgetting the things that are behind, he is clearly thinking about looking ahead when you run. We saw Michael Johnson setting a record. But it could have been an even greater record, if he hadn't yielded to the temptation to look back just a tiny little bit right near the end.

Ella: God didn't make us to run backwards or to look back while we run. We can be hurt badly if we try to look back and run forward. Every runner knows that. Paul is saying that on the track of life, there may be a temptation to look backwards. But no matter how far we have run, or how well we have run, there are still miles to go and still a need to look where we are going. In the Christian life, the same rule applies. We don't advocate amnesia, of course, but we need to put past glory in the inactive file and live now, for what God is calling us to do today and tomorrow..

Henry: That sounds great, but in the very late seventies I have a lot of contemporaries who say in all sincerity, " I'm tired. I just want to rest - to sit in my rocking chair and rock, and watch TV, and take long naps every day. What's wrong with that? Don't I deserve a few years of rest?" Well, yes, but I tried a do-nothing retirement. I found out that even though I need a nap to stay healthy, God didn't give me energy and insight for nothing. When I tried to waste it, I got deeply depressed. I know this from 20/20 hindsight, tho' I didn't recognize it at the time. I thought at the time that I was very tired.

Ella: There's another aspect of fatigue. You may be physically exhausted or even weak, but Paul's concern was about spiritually pressing forward. We are never too old and never too weak to keep on growing in the spirit. In fact, the greatest inspiration and wisdom usually comes from the older saints. If they had decided to give up or to leave the track, they would never have been such an inspiration to us when we were young. Paul is certain that God will reveal the value of pressing forward in due season. But meanwhile, he urges them not to lose what they already have. There is always the danger of losing what we have when we stop growing.

Henry: I've seen it happen. So much so that I'll admit I'm scared to stop running the Christian race; both physically and spiritually. I'm afraid of the results. That one year I wasn't in any disciplined race, not even a light responsibility, was one of the worst years of my life. Paul didn't say it, but I think ceasing to grow is automatically slipping back.

Ella: I don't think Paul was ever allowed the luxury of failing to grow. He was forever getting into new and perplexing situations. In my mind's eye, I can see Paul now, with Timothy at his side, who kept on wondering what on earth Paul would come up with next. You see, Paul was operating without any previous precedents. He had no mentors; no one had mapped the way; he was alone with Jesus, as his teacher. Growth was inevitable; he had no choice. And if we want to live an abundant life, we have no choice either.

Henry: I agree, but let me insert one more objection on behalf of my worthy rocking chair contemporaries, old and not in very good health.. It isn't everybody who can keep plugging. There are things like high blood pressure, strokes, and heart attacks; failing ears and eyes, and feet and legs that don't work very well any more. What have you and Paul to say to that?

Ella: Well, you and I have some of almost all that list, but the alternatives to aches and pains at our age are not very attractive. If we live at all, we're going to have some. I take every pain as a signal from God that I need some kind of attention or treatment, but most of all, every pain says to me, "Girl, you're still here! You are yet alive. 'Cause dead folks don't feel no pain." But to be more serious about the issue of failing health, I think Paul would urge us to keep pressing on even so. Press physically by following good dietary and health habits. Give up the prime ribs and gravy, and join us for breakfasts of granola and egg beaters. When the doctor says get a new knee, get it and then follow the therapist's directions to the letter. I know, because I did it.

Henry: She's telling the truth. Pressing for the mark by following healthy rules pays off. Even after two major heart attacks, my doc advised me to do serious exercise, and I get up and do it, whether I feel like or not. Maybe you are not quite that blessed, but whatever you are advised to do, do it and enjoy it, and live abundantly. And what we say about pressing physically, in spite of infirmities, can also be said about pressing on spiritually. We know about falling asleep when you're trying to pray. But that doesn't mean give up praying. God understands; so just wake up after a while and take up where you left off.

Ella: We should never give up growing spiritually just because we can't impress others with our pace. We may grow even then in ways that make life abundant. If we are in a wheel chair and feeling the very presence of God, we have joy in the Spirit. Count it all joy, and let our countenances glow with the love of God, living as long as we are alive.

Henry: It boils down to this: our years of greatest maturity age-wise can and should be the very best of all our years. And the pressing forward we do actually makes this possible.

We are serious when we say these are our very best years to witness and Praise the Lord! Yes, Ella's been at death's door a couple of times, and I have had some narrow escapes. Even now, we carry a number of handicaps and lots of little inconveniences.

Unison: Even so, we press on; we follow the doctors' rules, about diets, and medicines and exercise. We pray in season and out of season and thank God for all that's left. We are so very serious when we say: Praise God and count it all joy, unspeakable joy.

                                                      Amen, Amen!

Ella Mitchell: Not at all, but by the grace of God, we are here.

Henry Mitchell: We hardly spoke when we first met on that elevator. We had just arrived and we barely managed to say, "Oh, are you going to school here?", something of that sort. We were both interested in other people at the time.

Talbot: There was this chemistry in the elevator then?

H. Mitchell: Not really. It happened later. The Lord made us do it.

Talbot: Now break that down because fifty-three years of marriage is significant. What’s the secret?

E. Mitchell: I still say by the grace of God because when we first got married I told Henry I would not live to be thirty years of age and that would have been just a few years after we were married. But by the grace of God, we’ve made it. It has been a deeply spiritual relationship.

Talbot: You have experienced some major challenges in your lives. You had four children. Now, three wonderful children. How did you handle the death of your son?

E. Mitchell: That was difficult.

H. Mitchell: One of the most interesting things is that not long before he passed, he saw us having problems standing by his hospital bed and choking back strong urges to cry. He said, "Look, you guys have told me all my life that God works in everything for good. You’re not going to give up on that now, are you?" He actually laughed and he clung to that. It has been the family’s theme text I guess.

Talbot: He was twenty-six years of age. Now that kind of loss—one never gets over the loss of a child. But you have three wonderful children today and one of them is serving as a minister with Andrew Young in Atlanta at the First Congregational Church. How did she come to follow in the foot steps of her parents?

E. Mitchell: Well, it must have been just a matter of maturation. She grew into that. She had been in the White House with President Carter. Andrew Young, when he was mayor of Atlanta, asked her to go with him to bring the Olympics back to Atlanta. Then she went with him to do scheduling and appointments first and then translating for him because she is very fluent in French. But when she came back, she said, "I’ve got to make a change in my life." Her husband came to us and said, "Nana and Poppa, Elizabeth needs parental guidance." We knew exactly what has happening.

Talbot: You have written about the role of women in the church, Ella. How has that changed in all these years?

E. Mitchell: Well, I finished seminary in 1943. At that time we were thought of as hardly existent. But then as the years have progressed, we’ve seen many changes in the attitudes about women in the ministry.

Talbot: Henry, black self-esteem and the black church experience have been themes in your writings. Any changes?

H. Mitchell: Of course, when I went to Union Seminary to study under great names like Tillich and Niebuhr the basic assumption of the theological curriculum was that you are going to pastor a white middle-class church which, of course, didn’t happen. So my theme has been to prepare people to practice in the culture.

Talbot: Our time is up, but we celebrate your autobiography, Together for Good. What a wonderful title. Thank you, Ella and Henry Mitchell.