"They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord." (Hosea 11:11)

Summertime, and the Living is Easy. (George Gershwin, Porgy and Bess)

Welcome to Prime Timers, a Christian Education Group at St. Martin's for Episcopalians aged fifty and above. We are following a course of study based on the Revised Common Lectionary and you are invited to join us in the Parlor near the church offices, Sunday after the 9:00am service, 10:15am to 11:00. You can keep up to date with our Lectionary based readings at the bottom of this page.

St. Martin's Church is an impressive place. Here you can see the Gloria Dei organ, the Rose window and the altar dressed for Palm Sunday services.

Prime Timers Good News

The Prime Timers hear members Good News each week at the start of class. We charge a dollar and currently donate the money collected to the Amistad Mission in Bolivia. Marty gave thanks for his visiting sister, and a wonderful trip up to Bastrop. Oakley celebrates his grandmother's 98th birthday!

The Rich Fool

Today's lectionary based reading concerns our relationship with the material world, and our longings for the spiritual. The parable in Luke 12:13-21 is the story of a rich man who is more concerned with his possessions than his relation to God. Anyone who attends church is aware of this message, and class members mentioned the story in Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4 of the poor woman who places two coins in the offering box. This morning's Houston Chronicle lists the top paid executives in Houston, the winner being James Hackett of Anadarko Petroleum with $27.2 million. It's easy to see the contrast. If Mr. Hackett puts two coins in the offering there is no sacrifice involved, where the poor woman gives a big part of her earnings.

Carol mentions a friend who went to Ghana to work on water projects, other class members mention the doctors going to Haiti after the earthquake to help. As Christians we admire people who make sacrifices in pursuit of the greater good.

Class discussion turns to the issue of the Mosque proposed to be built near Ground Zero in New York City. The instant reaction to this is that someone has lost his marbles. Click here for an article on this. The Mosque is being proposed by the Cordoba Initiative, a Muslim group hoping to repair relations, not stick a poker in your eye.

Other examples of misunderstandings include an Israeli helping a Christian man who actually tore out the Old Testament from his Bible! Marty brought up an article in the Chronicle reprinted from the New York Times about Muslim scholars making a You Tube video repudiating the militant Islamists. This includes a number of influential American Muslim's from different points of view. It is great to hear voices of reason step up to counter the horrible message of Jihad that is so attractive to disaffected youth.

This morning's Houston Chronicle is a gold mine of material furthering our discussion! Someone mentions the article about home churches. There is always a danger when a small group starts making up Christianity without clerical guidance of going off the deep end and coming up with bad ideas. On the other hand this effort to make the church "relevant" to young people can have lasting benefits. Murray describes being in a small church in Canada where attendance at services on Christmas day is very small. The minister has the twelve or so parishioners stand in a circle around the altar while services are conducted, and Murray said it was a very moving event.

Our notes for this week include this powerful message from Reverend Kenneth L. Carder, a retired bishop of the Nashville Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church, who has held pastoral appointments in Tennessee, Maryland, and Virginia. He wrote in The Christian Century (Sept. 24, 1997):

"The Bible is clear: We cannot know the God of Jesus Christ apart from relationships with the poor and the powerless. God has chosen the poor, the least, the most vulnerable, those whom the world considers 'the weak' as special friends.
"A distinguishing characteristic of the God of the Hebrew scriptures is that Yahweh hears the cries of the poor and defends the orphans and widows and immigrants. God chooses the slaves, the nobodies, as means of divine liberation and salvation. In Jesus Christ, God comes in vulnerability and poverty. "God's special friendship with the poor is not in rejection of the rich, but an affirmation that life is not in riches. Life is in God's grace. It is this grace that gives us identity and worth."

Carol concluded class with a short prayer.

The Readings for Sunday, August 8th are from Lectionary Year Three, Proper 14-C, "Treasure in Heaven"

The Readings for this week are Isaiah 1:1, 10-20; Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 and Luke 12:32-40. The text this week is from the New Revised Standard Version.

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

¹The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
¹¹ What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.

¹² When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;
¹³ bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵ When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
¹⁶ Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
¹⁷ learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.

¹⁸ Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰ but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ The mighty one, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.

³ Our God comes and does not keep silence,
before him is a devouring fire,
and a mighty tempest all around him.
⁴ He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
⁵ 'Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!'
⁶ The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge.
Selah

⁷ 'Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
⁸ Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt-offerings are continually before me.

²³ Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me;
to those who go the right way
I will show the salvation of God.'

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

¹Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ²Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. ³By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, 'as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.'
¹³ All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, ¹⁴for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Luke 12:32-40

³² 'Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
³⁵ 'Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
³⁹ 'But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.'

NRSV