Stained Glass at St. Martin's Church

Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder, Jackie Rose, was to have a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are still online here. The group disbanded but the readings below are being kept up to date.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, August 18 are from Lectionary Year C, Proper 15:Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18 or Jeremiah 23:23-29; Psalm 82; Hebrews 11:29-12:2 and Luke 12:49-56. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Isaiah 5:1-7

¹ I will sing for the one I love
     a song about his vineyard:

My loved one had a vineyard
     on a fertile hillside.

² He dug it up and cleared it of stones
     and planted it with the choicest vines.

He built a watchtower in it
     and cut out a winepress as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
     but it yielded only bad fruit.

³ “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem
     and people of Judah,

judge between me
     and my vineyard.

⁴ What more could have been done for my vineyard
     than I have done for it?

When I looked for good grapes,
     why did it yield only bad?

⁵ Now I will tell you
     what I am going to do to my vineyard:

I will take away its hedge,
     and it will be destroyed;

I will break down its wall,
     and it will be trampled.

⁶ I will make it a wasteland,
     neither pruned nor cultivated,
     and briers and thorns will grow there.

I will command the clouds
     not to rain on it.”

⁷ The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
     is the nation of Israel,

and the people of Judah
     are the vines he delighted in.

And he looked for justice,
     but saw bloodshed;

for righteousness,
     but heard cries of distress.

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18

¹ Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock.
     You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

² before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
     Awaken your might; come and save us.

⁸ You transplanted a vine from Egypt;
     you drove out the nations and planted it.

⁹ You cleared the ground for it,
     and it took root and filled the land.

¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade,
     the mighty cedars with its branches.

¹¹ Its branches reached as far as the Sea,
     its shoots as far as the River.

¹² Why have you broken down its walls
     so that all who pass by pick its grapes?

¹³ Boars from the forest ravage it,
     and insects from the fields feed on it.

¹⁴ Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see!
     Watch over this vine,
     ¹⁵ the root your right hand has planted,
      the son you have raised up for yourself.

¹⁶ Your vine is cut down,
     it is burned with fire;
     at your rebuke your people perish.

¹⁷ Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
     the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

¹⁸ Then we will not turn away from you;
     revive us, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹ Restore us, LORD God Almighty;
     make your face shine on us,
     that we may be saved.

or Jeremiah 23:23-29

²³ “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away? ²⁴ Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD. ²⁵ “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ ²⁶ How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? ²⁷ They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship. ²⁸ Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD. ²⁹ “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

Psalm 82

¹ God presides in the great assembly;
     he renders judgment among the “gods”:

² “How long will you defend the unjust
     and show partiality to the wicked?

³ Defend the weak and the fatherless;
     uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy;
     deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

⁵ “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.
     They walk about in darkness;
     all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶ “I said, ‘You are “gods”;
     you are all sons of the Most High.’

⁷ But you will die like mere mortals;
     you will fall like every other ruler.”

⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
     for all the nations are your inheritance.

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. ³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. ³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

³² And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, ⁴⁰ since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Luke 12:49-56

⁴⁹ Jesus said, “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰ But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! ⁵¹ Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. ⁵² From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. ⁵³ They will be divided,

    father against son
        and son against father,
     mother against daughter
         and daughter against mother,
     mother-in-law against daughter-in-law
         and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

⁵⁴ He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. ⁵⁵ And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. ⁵⁶ Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.