Retirement as a Rite of Passage
by Homer L. Jernigan

For most of us, the day comes when we no longer "go to work" outside our homes. Retirement is an important transition time, both for individuals and for married couples. Family members may be concerned about what happens after retirement; but in our society, sons and daughters are usually on their own long before their parents retire.

Retirement Means Freedom

Retirement usually means a major lifestyle change. Life is no longer organized around a work schedule or around the requirements of a working life. The obvious advantage of retirement, if financial concerns are reasonably under control, is freedom — freedom to do what we want to do when we want to do it (if we can afford it). For couples, however, once both are retired, life is actually more complicated. What they will do with their new freedom needs to be worked out. For wives who have not worked outside the home, the husband's retirement may mean a real loss of freedom. Couples must face the realities of retirement and develop a lifestyle that meets each partner's needs.

Retirement Also Means Loss

Retirement not only means an opportunity for major changes in the lifestyle of an individual or couple, it also means a number of significant losses. For example, the individual or couple may experience the loss of:

• A lifestyle that may have a long history.
• The community of persons (social contacts) associated with work life.
• The structure of life required by the demands of work.
• The meaning and significance of life associated with work.
• The role/status/functions required/permitted for working.
• public visibility associated with the role/status/functions of working life (versus the "invisibility" of retirement and aging).
• Income.
  
• Benefits connected with work that are not provided to retirees (for example, life and health insurance, access to an office, parking space,>paid vacations)
  
• Spouse's independence

The impact of such losses varies from person to person and couple to couple, but the cumulative impact may be traumatic, especially after the early satisfactions of "freedom" diminish.

Individuals need the opportunity to grieve the losses associated with retirement, but also to prepare to meet the losses and challenges of retirement before the last day of work actually comes. For all of us, both retirees and persons considering retirement, an opportunity is needed in the church to think about how our identity as Christians impacts the choices we make about life after retirement. When we have the freedom to make lifestyle choices, as individuals and as couples, what kinds of choices are involved in developing a Christian lifestyle? Certain basic questions are suggested:

1. What makes it worthwhile getting up in the morning?
2. What can we look forward to as we grow older?
3. What gives life meaning and purpose that cannot be lost?
4. How can we accept, cope with, and transcend the changes, losses, and limitations of the aging process (our own and members of our families)?
5. How can we live with our memories?
6. What makes death acceptable and meaningful?

These questions need to be discussed in the context of a program of spiritual preparation for retirement. Preparation should begin long before retirement, but it is never too late to provide opportunities for retirees to search together for answers to such questions. Such opportunities should make use of a holistic understanding of the aging process and take into account the various stages of the retirement years.

As a church, we need to:

• Recognize the importance of retirement as a rite of passage.
• Develop a ritual that celebrates retirement and the reaffirmation of our vows as Christians.
• Develop a program of education/preparation that makes such a ritual meaningful for both congregation and retirees.

Dr. Homer L. Jernigan was the Albert V. Danielsen Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Boston University School of Theology, where he taught for 33 years. This article first appeared in the Winter 1996-97 issue of Information: Adult Ministries, a publication of the Office of Adult Ministries, General Board of Discipleship, P.O. Box 340003, Nashville, TN 37203-0003.


    Text Only Version