Expectation Grows!

Prime Timers is a St. Martin's Adult Christian Education group, also known as an Adult Bible Fellowship. We are people in the Prime of Life, age 50 and beyond, with a welcome for all who come to the Parlor near the Church Offices each Sunday from 10:15 am to 11:00. We are following a program based on the Revised Common Lectionary and are finished meeting this year, but join us next year, Sunday January 10, 2010 for a new year at St. Martin's.

During this time of year the St. Martin's Adult Education classes do not meet, but keep coming back to this page, the Lectionary readings will be updated and who knows what else you might find?

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. Lynn is headed off to Colorado Springs for the holidays, and all the Prime Timers wish our web visitors a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season!

Correggio, Nativity (Holy Night), 1528-30, Oil on canvas, at the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, Germany.

Magnificat

Donn Fullenweider led the Prime Timers today on this Sunday, sometimes called Mary's Sunday, and our Lectionary readings for today certainly reflect this. Donn continued reading paraphrased scripture readings from the Laugingbird Liturgical Resources, a gift from the South Yarra Community Baptist Church in Melbourne, Australia. The first reading is Micah 5:2-5a, where Micah predicts a saviour will be born in Bethlehem!

The LORD says to Bethlehem of Ephrathah:
“You, Bethlehem, might only be a one-horse town,
but I will put you on the map.
You will be the home town of the new ruler,
the one who will lead Israel for me.
His origins will go way back;
his claim will be as old as the hills.”

The LORD’s people will be lost - God is giving up on them -
but only until the labour is over
and the mother holds God’s newborn ruler in her arms.
God’s chosen ruler will bring his people home to Israel,
reuniting the refugees as a family again.”

Made strong by the LORD he will take his stand,
he will rule his people on the authority of his glorious God.
He will care for them and provide all they need,
and they will live in freedom and safety.
All over the earth his greatness will be acknowledged,
and he will be the one who establishes peace.

©2000 Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net

Donn mentioned religious sacrifices in the old world were pretty gruesome, such as offering a sheep to the Lord, and someone mentioned hearing about a recent "mega-sacrifice" in India of 300,000 animals! Yes, this is a religious event, but also a commercial bonanza for the locals. Anyway our reading from Hebrews 10:5-10 gives us an alternative:

Christ came into the world saying,

“God, you don’t want more sacrifices and offerings.
I know you get no pleasure from all that stuff,
even when it’s done sincerely and by the book.
But you have prepared a body for me, God,
and I come now to do what you really want,
for it is what I do that is really ‘by the book’.

Do you see what he’s saying there? He’s saying that God gets neither satisfaction nor pleasure from all the different kinds of offerings that the law prescribed for sin and for various other things. And he’s going further than that because he’s saying that he’s here to do what God really wants. This is a total change over. He is abolishing the previous system and putting a new one in place. So now, according to what God really wanted, Jesus has dealt with sin once and for all, at the cost of his own body, and brought us all up to scratch for God.

©2000 Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net

Jesus provides another way, offering himself as a sacrifice for us all.

Mary's Song (Luke 1:46-45) is called the Magnificat, and is celebrated in music by many composers. I would love to link you to examples but even though the composers works are in the public domain, recordings are not. Claudio Montverdi celebrates the Magnificat in "Vespers for the Blessed Virgin" in 1610. J. S. Bach (BWV 243) wrote a famous version, as have John Rutter, Vivaldi, Rachmaninoff. Completing our adventure with the paraphrasings from Laughingbird, here is Mary's Song:

Mary too was bursting with joy. She said:

“Let me turn the spotlight on God’s greatness!
With all that I am I dance with joy over God, my saviour!
God has smiled upon me, though I was no one special,
and now I’ll be remembered as the favoured one forever.
The supreme God has done wonderful things for me.
No other name is in the same league as God’s.

In every generation, those who treat God with respect
are rewarded with showers of mercy.
With sleeves rolled up, God has made a show of strength,
and sent packing those who were so full of themselves.

God has kicked the power mongers out of office,
and lifted the downtrodden back to their feet.
God has put on a feast for those who were hungry,
and slammed the door on the rich without giving them a bite.

The Lord’s servant Israel receives a helping hand;
God always remembers them with tender care.
This is exactly what God promised long ago,
a vow made to Abraham and Sarah for every generation.”

©2000 Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net

Mary can be worshipped to excess, leading to the "Cult of Mary." Some groups actually worship Mary instead of Jesus. Donn said that the Catholic Church was partly responsible for this, but the Second Vatican Council attempted to set the record straight, re-affirming Mary as the Mother of the church and "Co-redemptrix", (co-redeemer) of mankind.

Class members mentioned how the Magnificat is the favorite prayer of many peasants in Nicaragua, often carried as an amulet. During the Somoza years campesinos were required to carry proof that they voted for Somoza, and many mockingly refered to this as the "Magnificat!"

The birth of Jesus led Donn to allow that while the birth of his children was one of the most important events in his life, he could not imagine what women went through. Lynn agreed, describing some of what goes on in the month's before birth, the tiredness, not being able to sleep lying down near the end, etc. She also said that with all the pain and the hospital stay, as soon as she saw her child she couldn't wait for the next one!! This prompted Anne to say "I think you are unique!" Someone else described how Mormon's feel that there are many souls waiting for bodies here on earth, that is why they have many children.

Our commentary for today's readings concludes with this passage by William Pounds:

“In her response in faith, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is first
among the saints of the church. She was open and vulnerable to
the unexpected—to the coming of the Lord. She and Elizabeth
were most unlikely to become pregnant, the one a devout young
woman engaged to be married, and the other barren and past the
age of childbearing. They bore the unexpected fruit because their
ears were open to the message.
“In youth, faith and innocence, Mary said ‘Yes,’ not as a
duty of a mother but as a person of faith. Her only question being
‘How?’ and not asking ‘Why?’ evidences true response.”

Donn concluded class with a short prayer.

The Readings for Sunday, December 27th are from Lectionary Year Three, Christmas 1-C. "The Word Made Flesh"

The Readings this week are Isaiah 61:10--62:3, Psalm 147, Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7 and John 1:1-18. The text is from the New International Version.

Isaiah 61:10--62:3

¹⁰ I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations.

¹ For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet,
till her righteousness shines out like the dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.

² The nations will see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.

³ You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

Psalm 147

¹ Praise the LORD.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

² The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.

³ He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.

⁴ He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.

⁵ Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit.

⁶ The LORD sustains the humble
but casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷ Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;
make music to our God on the harp.

⁸ He covers the sky with clouds;
he supplies the earth with rain
and makes grass grow on the hills.

⁹ He provides food for the cattle
and for the young ravens when they call.

¹⁰ His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his delight in the legs of a man;

¹¹ the LORD delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.

¹² Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion,

¹³ for he strengthens the bars of your gates
and blesses your people within you.

¹⁴ He grants peace to your borders
and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.

¹⁵ He sends his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.

¹⁶ He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.

¹⁷ He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast?

¹⁸ He sends his word and melts them;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.

¹⁹ He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his laws and decrees to Israel.

²⁰ He has done this for no other nation;
they do not know his laws.
Praise the LORD.

Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

²³Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. ²⁴So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.

⁴But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, ⁵to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. ⁶Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." ⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

John 1:1-18

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning.

³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

⁶There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. ⁸He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹²Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " ¹⁶From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

NIV