My Mansion Meditation Class is one of the best hours I have every week. We had a newcomer today, her name is Susan, and she is the newest and youngest member of the Mansion community.

She had never heard of meditation and wasn’t sure about it, but she got through seven minutes, and she and Zinnia fell wildly in love. She says she’ll be back next week.

I asked her what she thought of meditating, and she said she didn’t like closing her eyes. I said she could do anything with her eyes, and she’s coming back next week.

She’s a lot of fun, upbeat, friendly, and a great dog lover. She loves being at the Mansion, and the aides love her back.

I read again from Joan Chittister, my favorite author, when reading to the Mansion residents. Chittister is an author and a spiritual philosopher, and I love reading her books.

Today’s was “The Gift Of Years” because she is one of the first spiritualists who see aging as much of a gain as a loss.

The residents love her ideas, which give them comfort and hope.

“Being older,” I read today from her work, “is what allows us to stray as we have never strayed in our lives.”

We can drop our schedules and deadlines and go to the library, take a walk, have a nap, or have coffee with a friend anytime we like. It is true of the Mansion, as tricky as aging can be that the residents admit they have more freedom than they have ever had and fewer demands and schedules to follow.

“Mystery,” she wrote, “is what happens to us when we allow life to evolve rather than having to make it happen all the time…just to notice, just to be there.”

In our culture, the elderly are often put away, kept out of sight, ignored, and given no roles to play in our cultural and political lives. They are herded together, and aging is almost always seen as a painful loss.

Chittister has given me a way to provide a different message to the older adults who come to my class, and I can see that they are almost desperate to hear it, making them feel so much better about themselves.

My life is very different from theirs, and so is my idea about aging, but there is a place where we all connect with one another, which is a beautiful place. I would miss the class dearly if it went away.

I tell them stories from my life; they tell me stories from theirs. Then, in the end, we all close our eyes and meditate together. Next week, I asked if I could go up to 10 minutes.

They all said yes. “I mean, what’s the difference?” asked Peg. “most of us will be asleep by then anyway.”

We all laughed. Every one of us.

We all know the pains and struggles of the highly elderly; as their unofficial and temporary pastor, I don’t need to remind them of it. My job is to push away the gloom and show them the light.

It is as satisfying for me as I hope it is for them. I like that Susan heard about the class and was encouraged to come and give it a tree. I think she’ll be back. As to my regulars, we have a packed house at the table every week.

I never imagined playing the pastor’s role, especially in a room full of fundamentalist Christians and Methodists. Life is full of crisis and mystery.