"Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. " (Psalm 124:8)

Prime Timers is a Christian Education group at St. Martin's for Episcopalians aged fifty and above. We follow a course of study based on the Revised Common Lectionary, the three year cycle of Bible readings used throughout the Anglican Communion and by many Protestant denominations worldwide. Next week's readings are right here, at the bottom of the page! You are invited to join us in the Parlor near the church offices, Sunday after the 9:00am service, 10:15am to 11:00.

Pharaoh's Daughter finding Baby Moses - by Russian artist Konstantine Flavitsky, 1855

Prime Timer Good News!

A Prime Timer tradition is hearing what others are up to, and charging a dollar for the privilege! We donate the money we collect to charities supported by the church. Marty praised his Mother, who is finally getting her hearing checked! Lynda gave thanks for our group and the church, and her dollar(s) put our Good News fund over the top at four hundred dollars! Visitor John told us about a new grand baby and a daughter who is starting a mission in Kenya.

Valuing God's Kingdom

Murray Sykes led the Prime Timers today while our leader Carol Hartland is out recovering from surgery. Today's lectionary theme is forgiveness, from Joseph forgiving his treacherous brothers to Jesus' change of heart to the Canaanite woman to Rev. Levenson's question in the sermon this morning: "who are you mad at?"

As Christians we are all challenged to love God and our neighbors as ourselves, and it is those times when this is most difficult where we sense God's power. Joseph could have had his brothers heads, but instead welcomes them with open arms. Jesus challenged the Canaanite woman's faith but grants her wish when she proves herself. Rev. Levenson's story of the concentration camp survivor forgiving one of the guard's of the camp; it does not get harder to forgive than that!

Lynda asks "who forgives God?" Murray suggests that since we are given free will God has to go to great lengths sometimes to influence our lives. The story of the Canaanite woman becomes richer in that this is something of a turning point in Jesus' ministry. Up until this event Jesus saw his job as saving "the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mt. 15:24) while now the Gentiles are added to the flock. This is one of the reasons the Jews finally reject the teachings of Jesus.

Last week we had Peter beginning to walk on the water to follow Jesus, and beginning to sink as his faith wavered. This week we have the persistent woman whose faith convinces Jesus to grant her request. Class discussion turned to the idea that peoples' physical needs: water, food and shelter, must be met first before their spiritual needs can be addressed. The situation in the Arab world is mentioned. When we hear about the group "Muslims" we have a tendency to attach negative feelings relating to very real events. Face to face with a Muslim person, though, and we might even make friends!

Rev. Donald S. Armentrout is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at The School of Theology at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. From our class notes he has written:

“What made Jesus change his mind and respond to the Canaanite woman’s plea? ‘Woman, what faith you have!’ he exclaims. This was what so many of the Jews lacked, and where Jesus found it, he responded to it.

“Although we can find isolated quotations in the Bible which imply either exclusiveness (‘the chosen people’) or universality (‘For God so loved the world … ’), we must remember that Jesus’ greatest commandment, after love of God, was ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ And when asked ‘And who is my neighbor?’ he
replied with the story of the Good Samaritan.

“The best safeguard against prejudice of any sort is always to see people as individuals, not as members of a group—social, racial, religious, age-based, whatever. This is the way Jesus came to see the Canaanite woman, and responded to her.”

Murray concluded class with a short prayer.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, August 14th are from Lectionary Year One, Proper 16-A, "Peter's Confession of Christ": Exodus 1:8--2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8 and Matthew 16:13-20. The text this week is from the New Revised Standard Version.

Exodus 1:8--2:10

⁸ Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹He said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. ¹⁰Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’ ¹¹Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labour. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. ¹²But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. ¹³The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, ¹⁴and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labour. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ¹⁶‘When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.’ ¹⁷But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. ¹⁸So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, ‘Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?’ ¹⁹The midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.’ ²⁰So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. ²¹And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. ²²Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.’

¹Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. ²The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. ³When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. ⁴His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

⁵ The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. ⁶When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. ⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ ⁸Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. ¹⁰When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’

Psalm 124

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

¹ If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
—let Israel now say—
² if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when our enemies attacked us,
³ then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
⁴ then the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
⁵ then over us would have gone
the raging waters.

⁶ Blessed be the Lord,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

Romans 12:1-8

¹I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, ⁵so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. ⁶We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ⁷ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; ⁸the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Matthew 16:13-20

¹³Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ ¹⁴And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ¹⁵He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ ¹⁷And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ ²⁰Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

NRSV