Exodus 3:4 "...And Moses said, 'Here I am.'"

Prime Timers, a St. Martin's Adult Christian Education (A.C.E.) group, also known as an A.B.F. (Adult Bible Fellowship), is for people in the Prime of Life, age 50 and beyond. Class meets in the Parlor near the Church Offices each Sunday from 10:15 am to 11:00. We are following a course of study from the United Council of Churches titled Call Sealed with a Promise. You are invited to join our group as we begin a new unit titled "Called Out of Egypt" and spend some time with us studying the Old Testament.

Marketplace at St. Martin's Episcopal Church!

Here are Prime Timers Donn, Maria, cast member Carol, Lynn, cast member Larry and Marty at St. Martin's big August event, Marketplace, with the Activity center transformed into an authentic Judean market! These photos are a preview, over one hundred volunteers worked a good part of this summer to get this ready, the event goes on all this week, August 10-14 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, a wonderful place to bring the children! The only thing this marketplace did not re-create is the desert heat!

Can you smell the fresh bread?

Prime Timer and cast member Annette offers some spices to Donn and Lynn.

Craftsmen hammering out unique bracelets!

A view from the balcony, you can see Rev. Levenson right at the center!

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.  Sue gave thanks for a friend with cancer. Sue was worried that the friend would be too sick to go to a long planned dinner, but she got better and they had a wonderful time. Carol mentioned the Health Fair, where over one hundred volunteers from St. Martin's participated.

Eat at Fred's

The Prime Timers monthly get together will be Tuesday, August 18, at 6:30pm at Fred's Italian Corner Restaurant, 2278 West Holcombe Boulevard at Greenbriar, 713-665-7506. Please let Lynn Swaffar know if you are coming, (281) 495-3832.

The Lesson for Sunday, August 16th,  is "Moses Disobeys"

Key Verse:  Numbers 20:12

Focus of the Lesson: Even great leaders may fail to heed higher authority. Why do people disregard authority? Moses disobeyed God because he did not trust God to provide for the people.

The reading is Numbers 20:1-13. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

   ¹In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

   ²Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. ³They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! ⁴Why did you bring the LORD's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? ⁵Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"

   ⁶Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. ⁷The LORD said to Moses, ⁸"Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."

   ⁹So Moses took the staff from the LORD's presence, just as he commanded him. ¹⁰He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" ¹¹Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

   ¹²But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."

   ¹³These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he showed himself holy among them.

NIV