"This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. " (Psalm 118:24)

Holy Week is here. The Prime Timers are following a course of study based on the Revised Common Lectionary. We will be following the events of Holy Week with the rest of the parishioners at St. Martin's, and our class will be suspended to celebrate Easter Sunday. We will be back Sunday, April 12. You are invited to join us in the Parlor near the church offices, Sunday after the 9:00am service, 10:15am to 11:00.

Prime Timers Celebrate Good News

We celebrate our members Good News at Prime Timers with a $1 contribution to Henny Penny, our Good News chicken. Periodically Henny donates the money she collects to a charity, currently the Amistad Mission in Bolivia. Today Linda gave thanks for her son, who lost his job but got another the same week! Elizabeth celebrated George's "first 80th birthday." We hope there are many more!

Jesus' Passion

Carol Hartland led our Palm Sunday class as we read the Passion from Luke. This caused George to comment how human nature has not changed at all! Carol reviewed Jesus last words: in Luke 23:34 "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."; Luke 23:43 "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."; and in Luke 23:46 "Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.'" as he died.

The tomb of Jesus is a subject that generates interest today from many quarters. The Discovery Channel aired a show on the Tomb of Jesus. Click on the name for some more information and the inevitable DVD. This show was executive produced by James Cameron, the director of the movie "Titanic" and more recently "Avatar."

There is a web site TombofJesus.com that suggests Jesus survived the crucifixion and ended up in India! Click the link for a story I will bet you never heard before!

Class discussion turned to the terrible story right here in Houston of an eight year old boy who jumped from a second story after being tormented by bullies.

Finally, we wondered about the power relation between Pontius Pilate and King Herod Antipas. They both lived in the same time, and in the reading from Luke we learn that Pilate actually tried to let Herod solve Pilate's problem with Jesus, after which the two become friends. Here is some explanation from the Ecole Initiative: "Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judea. His rule began in 26 CE and lasted until early in 37 CE...When Herod I died in 4 BCE, Augustus upheld his will and divided the kingdom between three of Herod's surviving sons. Antipas was allotted Galilee and Peraea whilst Philip was given Batanaea, Trachonitis, Auranitis and certain parts of Zeno around Panias (or Ituraea). Both were given the title tetrarch, literally the ruler of a fourth part of a kingdom. The remainder, amounting to half of the kingdom and comprising of Idumaea, Judaea and Samaria, was given to Archelaus with the title ethnarch."

So Pilate is a Roman Governor, appointed during the rule of Emperor Tiberius, while Herod Antipas is a ruler of a "fourth part of a kingdom."

Carol mentioned how Jesus dealings with women are always respectful, and wondered at the feelings of the women who watched the crucifixion (Luke 23:49) "But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things."

Class broke up early today so that members could see the Marketplace set up in the Bagby Parish Hall. Carol concluded class with a short prayer

The Readings for Sunday, April 4th are from Lectionary Year Three, Easter Sunday-C, "He is Risen!"

The Readings for this week are Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 and John 20:1-18 or Luke 24:1-12. The text is from the New International Version.

Acts 10:34-43

³⁴Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. ³⁶You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. ³⁷You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— ³⁸how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

³⁹"We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, ⁴⁰but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴²He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

² Let Israel say:
"His love endures forever."

¹⁴ The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.

¹⁵ Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
"The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!

¹⁶ The LORD's right hand is lifted high;
the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!"

¹⁷ I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

¹⁸ The LORD has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.

¹⁹ Open for me the gates of righteousness;
I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

²⁰ This is the gate of the LORD
through which the righteous may enter.

²¹ I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.

²² The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;

²³ the LORD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.

²⁴ This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

¹⁹If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

²⁰But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²²For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

John 20:1-18

¹Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ²So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

³So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. ⁸Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹⁰Then the disciples went back to their homes, ¹¹but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"

"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

¹⁵"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

¹⁶Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

¹⁷Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "

¹⁸Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Luke 24:1-12

¹On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " ⁸Then they remembered his words.

⁹When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. ¹⁰It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. ¹²Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

NIV