Kemp Road Ministries on Sunday will continue its celebration of honouring the elderly in its congregation with a Senior Saints Day service at 11 a.m. The occasion was started at the church in 1996.

Rev. Dr. Ivan Ford Butler Jr., is the senior pastor.

Rev. Butler says the older generation is an integral part of his vision, and it is his desire that these people understand fully the pivotal role they play within the church and their respective communities.

Pastor Butler says it is a sad truth that while the western civilization boasts proudly of being Christianity's protector, it is the eastern civilization that best exemplifies God's mandate to his children as to the treatment and actions of the elderly.

In eastern cultures senior citizens are revered. They are able to wear their years here on this earth with graceful dignity, pride and distinction because they are respected for the wealth of experience gained with the passage of time no matter their station in life.

"Sadly, this fact is not so for those of us living in the west," he says. "Instead, we idolize and revere youth, and dismiss as useless and, oftentimes, an unnecessary drain on society's resources the elderly." The Kemp Road pastor says this mind set permeates every aspect of living, with an overwhelming majority of media programming being geared toward the youth. In the workplace one is "put out to pasture" at age 60; and some parents are put in an 'old folks' home that are supposedly better equipped to handle them.

In a deliberate and concerted effort to effect a positive changes, Pastor Butler along with the special projects committee arm of Kemp Road Ministries continues to seek out concrete, tangible avenues to highlight, honour and celebrate senior congregants and those of the Bahamian community at large. (The 'Good Samaritan' and 'Unity' houses as well as 'The Soldier Road Home for the Aged' and 'the Bahamas Association For Retired Persons' have all, at one time or another, participated in making the Kemp Road Ministries 'Senior Saints Days' memorable).

Over the years various seminars, all aimed at assisting seniors in discovering ways to improve their circumstances - body, mind and spirit, have been mounted; curiosities have been peeked and new hobbies cultivated; appetites have been satisfied with delicious luncheons; and hearts have been filled with joy and smiles etched on faces with the recent introduction of 'The Senior Saint of The Year' event. Since the pageant's inception in 2000, five queens and one king have been crowned — Elder Ruth Flowers and Mother Evelyn Lloyd in 2000, Deaconess Nellie Moss and Mother Eula Rolle in 2001, and Deaconess Edithmae Taylor and Elder John McPhee in 2002.

Caption:Pastor Butler at left with reigning queen Edith-mae Taylor and king Elder John McPhee.

Posted: Thursday November 6, 2003