This past year I have had the privilege of teaching a Sunday School class for older folks at Bethlehem. They are called “The King’s Friends.” The title is a vestige from an older era at Bethlehem, and I’ve been happy to serve under it. After all, Hushai the Archite was the king’s friend (1 Chron. 27:33). More importantly, so were the disciples (John 15:15).

This Sunday marks my last day teaching the class, as I will be transitioning to a different pedagogical post in the fall. In their honor, here are nine reasons I love my elderly friends:

  1. They remind me that the world got along just fine before 1983 (the year I was born).
  2. They lived through a lot of the stuff I read about in school.
  3. Most of them have walked with Jesus longer than I’ve been alive.
  4. Death is a more pressing reality for them. Going to be with Jesus isn’t an abstract concept they consider in pensive moods. Many of them will see him in ten years. Some even sooner.
  5. A smile on their face is - in some ways - more profound than a twentysomething’s grin, because it can’t be attributed to painless joints, career advancement, or an iPhone.
  6. They’ve had room in their hearts for a young whipper-snapper like me.
  7. They know how to cook.
  8. They love my wife.
  9. They consistently remind me that my youth is not perpetual.

Praise God for his aged saints. They have unique capacities to display Jesus’ worth, and I am thankful they let me share their Sunday mornings with them.