Aging

"Will Willimon is sui generis on the American religious scene. He has a distinctive ability to cover a host of urgent issues while remaining grounded in the transformative truth of the gospel. His writing is marked by wisdom, good humor, passion, and common sense. In this book he looks aging full in the face, understanding that it is, most predictably, a season of loss. But Willimon also knows that, for the Christian, aging permits honesty, gratitude, and most of all a durable sense of agency that is rooted in an embrace of vocation. I am glad, in my aging, that I have been instructed by this book. Many other readers--those aging and those who love an aging person--will welcome this book."

"Will Willimon has carried the faith throughout his entire life, and here he offers an incredibly touching, poignant, and compelling account of growing old, experiencing God in new ways, and finding hope in the life that Jesus offers. A must-read for Christians of any age."

"Will Willimon has written many wise books, but this may be his wisest. He gently teaches us how growing old in faith is so dramatically different from simply growing old. He shows how aging calls us to relinquish our grip on some tasks and roles, to strengthen our grasp on abiding treasures, and to open our arms to new blessings we are being given. For those of us at the end of our days, this is more than a book; it's a companion along the way."

"I live in the eschatological tension between the already and the not yet: already in my sixties and not yet retired, and, more to the point, already in the final third of my life and not yet entirely reconciled to that fact. In short, I am one for whom Will Willimon wrote Aging, and I am grateful that he did. The book is remarkably honest, without a whiff of sentimentality or denial, and yet sincerely and substantively hopeful. It offers wise guidance and concrete advice for both individuals and churches. It is at once provoking, challenging, and inspiring, just as I would expect from Willimon's writing."

"For Christians who want to grow old faithfully and truthfully, Willimon offers an experienced voice. He never pretends that aging is simply a cheerful matter; instead he offers practical and biblical reflections for those who want their last years to draw them more deeply into the life of the church--reflections that in different ways may be just as helpful for those who are (for now) young."