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Prime Timers is a St. Martin's Adult Bible Fellowship (A.B.F.) for people in the Prime of Life, ages 50-64. We meet upstairs in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209 from 10:15am to 10:50. Our course this year comes from the United Council of Churches and our current quarter is titled Images of Christ in Us.

St. Martin's Adult Bible Fellowships are here for you all summer long!

August concludes our Fourth Quarter, a series of readings entitled Images of Christ. Our readings this month are from the Book of James. You can get a head start, next weeks reading is at the bottom of this page!

Normally Prime Timers begins with news from our members, but hey its hot and the middle of summer in Houston so I guess we can be forgiven if no one had a story to tell this week. Ben Welmaker told us two weeks from now, on August 17 during our class (10:15-10:50am) we will have a guest speaker, Sara Patterson, who will talk about "Why America is More Religious than Europe." If you are reading this an are not a Prime Timer but would like to hear this talk, it would be our great pleasure to have you attend our class. Consider yourself invited!

Doers of the Word

Donn Fullenweider led us through our reading from the book of James by mentioning the controversy surrounding whether the book was written by James, the brother of Jesus, or another. If it was written by James it would be before 62 AD, the year James was martyred, otherwise it was most likely written in the last part of the first century. The reason many believe the book is the work of others is that it is written in a high Greek dialect, and it is unlikely that James, a Galilean Jew, would use this form. Nevertheless many believe it to be the words of James.

The book is written in the form of Wisdom writing, characterized by wise sayings designed to teach about divinity and virtue. The best examples in the Bible of this tradition are the Book of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Psalms, and the Apocryphal books Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiaticus.  Our passage from James begins by celebrating God as the source of every good and perfect gift. It parallels the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus remarks that, if imperfect parents can provide good gifts for their children, "how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11b) By referring to the "Father of lights" James calls to mind the creation story, where on the fourth day God fashions the sources of light in the sky (Genesis 1:14-19).

In James 1:19, where James asks "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry" Donn reflected that anger can mean many things. There is the anger of rage, for instance, and there is righteous anger. The word for anger in Greek is the root for the English word "orgy." James is referring to the destructive anger that takes you on a downward spiral, with little good results.

The next section reminds us that just listening to the Word is not enough, actions need to be taken. "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." (James 1:22) Donn thought of several current examples where its obvious that harm can come from something yet people ignore the advice, like don't motorcycle without a helmet, stop smoking, and don't overeat to obesity.

Donn summarized this lesson with these four points:  1) Speak well of others, 2) control anger until you can find a constructive way to express it. 3) Volunteer to help vulnerable people, and 4) prompt elected leaders to protect vulnerable and less fortunate people. He then asked us, and you can join in as well, to set aside a time this week to spend with the Bible. If you are already doing this try to create some new way to look at the Bible, and if you are not you might just be surprised what you find!

Donn concluded class as always with a short prayer.

The Lesson for Sunday, August 10th is "Impartial Disciples"

Key Verse:  James 2:5b

Focus of the Lesson: People often value people in relation to material wealth. By what criteria do we determine our values? James teaches that Christians should make no distinctions in their treatment of people based on their material wealth.

The reading is James 2:1-13. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

Background Scripture:  James 2

   ¹My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. ²Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. ³If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," ⁴have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

   ⁵Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

   ⁸If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

   ¹²Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

NIV