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August 19, 2007 "Call for
Repentance" |
You are invited to Join the St. Martin's Prime Timers Adult Bible Fellowship!
We meet in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209, Sunday from 10:10 to 10:50am. That's upstairs on the second floor. The class is geared towards people aged fifty to sixty-four, but the Bible message we explore is universal.
This summer the Prime Timers are studying the Prophets: Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Lamentations (traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah), Ezekiel, Zechariah and Malachi. These prophets proclaimed God's word over several hundred years, but their message was consistent: A faithful relationship with God entails specific requirements, one of which is to do right. This week and next our prophet is Jeremiah.
Prime Timers Good News
At the beginning of our class we devote time to hear our members Good News. Presenting your news requires a $1 donation to our chicken, Henny Penny. This week Sue Morrison gave thanks for the safe return of her grandson from a University in Beirut, Lebanon. Sue reports that he is a red-headed American boy, and returned safely despite all the turmoil.
The Personal Consequences of Sin!
Richard Cruse, our teacher for August, began the lesson today reminding us that the readings last week and this week dealt with the rout of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. The theme once again is sin, and its consequences. Richard recalled this passage from Exodus 20:4-6, part of the Ten Commandments "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments." So God will punish the sons and grandson's for the sins of the Father.
Then Richard recited this passage from the dying prophet Joshua 24:19-24 "But Joshua said to the people, ‘You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.’ 21And the people said to Joshua, ‘No, we will serve the Lord!’ 22Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.’ And they said, ‘We are witnesses.’ 23He said, ‘Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.’ 24The people said to Joshua, ‘The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.’ " Serve the Lord, repent and live.
Turning to today's reading from the prophet Ezekiel, but outside the reading is Ezekiel 18:14-18 "But if this man has a son who sees all the sins that his father has done, considers, and does not do likewise, 15who does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, 16does not wrong anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 17withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no advance or accrued interest, observes my ordinances, and follows my statutes; he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live. 18As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, he dies for his iniquity." Now the message is personal accountability, you are called to account for your actions, but not the actions of your father. This is continued in today's reading.
The idea of intergenerational punishment was well accepted in Jerusalem at the time, and probably by the exiles as well. The best and brightest were now in exile. Ezekiel's oracle has God tell these people to stop using this proverb ("The parents have eaten unripe grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.") immediately. God decrees that only the individual will suffer for his sins.
Repent, and live. This is a theme that is repeated in Jesus' teaching. Ezekiel's oracle concludes that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
Richard concluded reminding us of the parables of Luke, such as Luke 13:1-9. Repent, and live.
Prime Timers Contact names and numbers
Mentor
Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org
Leaders
Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
anne.berry@comcast.net
Max Kech
713/802-0690 H
maxkech2003@yahoo.com
Marty Smith
713/464-6737 H
martys@houston.rr.com
Teachers
Richard Cruse
Chris Hershberger
Pete Seale
Ben Welmaker
bhwjr@flash.net
Outreach (inviting and welcoming new members)
Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
atberry@proctor-law.com
Elizabeth Sleeper
jsleeperjr@houston.rr.com
Caring (prayers, follow-up w/class members who have been ill or have other needs)
Max Kech
713/802-0690 H
maxkech2003@yahoo.com
Click here for a print friendly version of this page!
Thanks to the Web Gallery of Art for the photo by Rembrandt on today's web page.
The St. Martin's New Church from the side.
The Prime Timers dinner last Tuesday at the Houston Racquet Club, hosted by Connie Colley. Thanks Connie! It was a very nice evening.
Another view from our dinner at the Houston Racquet Club.
The Prophet Ezekiel by Michelangelo, 1510, at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
The Lesson for Sunday, August 19th is titled "Call for Repentance"
Key Verse: Zechariah 1:3
Focus of the Lesson: People yearn for wholeness and happiness in their lives. Where do we find such fulfillment? Zechariah says that when we return to the Lord, the wholeness and happiness we will have in God's new age becomes available to us now as well.
The reading is Zechariah 1:1-6; 7:8-14. This text is from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
Background Scripture: Zechariah 1:1-6; 7:8-14; 8:16-17, 20-21, 23
1In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo, saying: 2The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. 3Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or heed me, says the Lord. 5Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever? 6But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? So they repented and said, ‘The Lord of hosts has dealt with us according to our ways and deeds, just as he planned to do.’
Zechariah 7:8-14
8The word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying: 9Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; 10do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. 11But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear. 12They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. 13Just as, when I called, they would not hear, so, when they called, I would not hear, says the Lord of hosts, 14and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and a pleasant land was made desolate.
NRSV
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