Spiritual Sweetness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Up here in Oregon and last night had a session with high school students and then shifted to the "adult" body of the church for a Jesus Creed talk -- and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spiritual Sweetness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Up here in Oregon and last night had a session with high school students and then shifted to the "adult" body of the church for a Jesus Creed talk -- and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-05-14T12:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/\",\"name\":\"Spiritual Sweetness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-05-14T12:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2005-05-14T12:03:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Up here in Oregon and last night had a session with high school students and then shifted to the \\\"adult\\\" body of the church for a Jesus Creed talk -- and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Spiritual Sweetness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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<\/div>\n

Meeting God\u2019s good people around this country has been a highlight of my life.<\/p>\n

Time and time again I am deeply impressed by the piety, kindness, and spiritual sensitivity of the elderly \u2014 the sort of who were reared in one spot, went off to college and came back, or didn\u2019t go off to college and are still in the same spot. So many of this type. They are the \u201chits\u201d of the local church because they are the ones who have prayed for it, given their funds for the ministry, who have taught Sunday School classes \u2014 my father has taught SS classes for nearly 50 years! \u2014 and who have just lived faithfully in the presence of God for 70 or 80 years.<\/p>\n

There is a spiritual sweetness, mellowness, and confidence about these elderly brothers and sisters (more the latter than the former) that makes my heart glad to be one who is walking on the roads they have already walked so well.<\/p>\n

I met one such saint last night, and Kris sat next to her: Mary Ferry. Sweetness lit up her eyes and she was glad to be with other Christians. Served as a public school teacher for a long, long time. The sort you\u2019d like your children to have.<\/p>\n

Pray, my friends, for the grace to know such people. Seek them out, sit with them over coffee, and make sure your kids get to know them.<\/p>\n

Not that the high school kids were any less of a hit with me; I loved them.<\/p>\n

If some are interested in this, I\u2019ll tell you a story of my favorite \u201celderly saint\u201d if you tell me yours.<\/p>\n

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Up here in Oregon and last night had a session with high school students and then shifted to the \u201cadult\u201d body of the church for a Jesus Creed talk \u2014 and I spoke about what it is and how it fits into the six theories of the Christian life. Meeting God\u2019s good people around this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSpiritual Sweetness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Up here in Oregon and last night had a session with high school students and then shifted to the "adult" body of the church for a Jesus Creed talk -- and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spiritual Sweetness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Up here in Oregon and last night had a session with high school students and then shifted to the "adult" body of the church for a Jesus Creed talk -- and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-05-14T12:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/\",\"name\":\"Spiritual Sweetness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-05-14T12:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2005-05-14T12:03:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Up here in Oregon and last night had a session with high school students and then shifted to the \\\"adult\\\" body of the church for a Jesus Creed talk -- and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/14\/spiritual-sweetness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Spiritual Sweetness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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