The illusion of one being perpetually young was shattered in my case recently when a publishing firm asked me to write some advice to a young priest from the perspective of an elder. For me, youth was a permanent state. I was the very youngest in my college class and, in my Anglican years, at twenty-six I was the youngest parish rector in the nation. So defensive was I about this, that at my installation I had a friend, who eventually became a United States senator, read for the first lesson: “Let no man despise thy youth… (1 Tim. 4:12).” That was in the days of Beatle haircuts and my self-assurance was not affirmed when one lady remarked upon seeing me in an elaborate cope at Evensong, that I looked like the Infant of…. Read More>>
