The St. Martin's Prime Timers A.B.F invites you to join us for Advent!

We meet in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209, right after the 9am Sunday Service, from 10:10 to 10:50am. As the Christmas Season of Advent begins we are following a program titled Responding to God's Call and will be reading from the Book of Luke.

The St. Martin's Adult Bible Fellowships (ABF's) are following a course of study based on the work of the Committee on the Uniform Series, also known as the International Lessons. Bible students around the world are using this same framework, and so can you!

Prime Timers Good News

We hear our members Good News to kick off our class. It just takes a $1 donation to our Good News chicken, Henny Penny. Currently we are donating this money to the Amistad Mission in Bolivia, a Christian partnership between North Americans and Bolivians for the benefit of children in need.

Lynn gave thanks for all our great Prime Timers teachers and Marty gave thanks for his Mom, who will be 89 in a little over a week, but climbed the five sets of stairs/ladders to get to the tower level of the church. This is how you get to see the church bells and catwalks for the lights. She and Lee Hunnell are involved in a Docent's project. Being in the church feels different after having been on top of it! Everyone made it just fine. The new requirement to make this trip is that you have to be at least 88!

Called to Believe

Donn Fullenweider is our teacher for December, and appropriately enough begins the Advent season with a discussion of miracles! The text for December is from the Book of Luke. Luke is not a contemporary of Jesus, but rather a scholar of the second or third generation afterward, not a physician as was once thought. He might have travelled with Paul, or maybe made use of a chronicle of Paul's travels. Luke is the largest contributor to the New Testament, responsible not just for the book of Luke, but also the Acts of the Apostles.  Most scholars accept A.D. 80 or 90 as the time of Luke.

In Luke 1:8-23 Zechariah is from a priestly family, serving in one of the twenty-four divisions named for Aaron's twenty-four sons. (1 Chronicles 24:1-19) He is chosen by lot, a method to discern God's will, to light incense in the temple in a place where only priests could enter. Zechariah and Elizabeth are childless, even though they are pictures of piety. In those days, being barren is thought to be a sign that you have sinned. The angel Gabriel, one of the seven archangels of Judaism, tells Zechariah that his wife will have a child, to be named John. He will be a great joy and will minister in the spirit of Elijah. Early Christians believed Elijah would appear as a forerunner of the Messiah. Zechariah has doubts, and for this the angel strikes him speechless!

Donn tried to imagine the mute Zechariah coming home that night and trying to explain to his wife that an angel came down and said she, Elizabeth, was to become pregnant and bear a divine son!

Elizabeth does become pregnant, and has a child, John. Surely a miracle. While we are all familiar with miracles described in the Bible, Donn asked us if we had experienced miracles in our own lives. He broke this into three parts. 1) Define a miracle. The dictionary describes a miracle as "an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause." Miracles do not need to be spectacular. Donn said he never had a visit from an angel, but nonetheless feels he has experienced miracles in his life. This led to 2) asking if we had experienced miracles in our lives. We heard an amazing story by Jean, a class member originally from England, who lived in "bomb alley" during World War II. Her mother told her to stay near the house due to the bombing. One day a classmate suggested they go into the city on their bikes. It would be safe, after all there was a bomb shelter in the middle of town. Jean decided to stay, her friend went into town. A Messerschmitt bomber came over and dropped a bomb that landed square on the bomb shelter! All that was left of her friend was some pieces of clothing. This event haunted Jean for years, but it is clearly a miracle that she is alive.

The third question 3) is what do you do about people who don't believe in miracles? This led to another story from a class member who was driving along and saw an old man driving a car, that was on fire! Fire was coming out the bottom of the car, near the gas tank. Bobbie tried to warn the old man, but he did not react. Bobbie prayed for the fire to go out, and sure enough it did.

Donn mentioned a book by Julia Cameron, "The Artists Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity" as a good reference for synchronicity. This is similar to a miracle, describing two or more events which occur in a meaningful manner. Its like having a dream of a career in acting, and the next day finding yourself sitting next to an acting teacher.

A class member told us about her daughter being diagnosed with pancreatitis, and the doctor saying that she might not live through the night. Our class member drove to her daughters side, and she made it through that night, and the next, and the next, and is just fine today! Still don't believe in miracles?

Donn then concluded class with a short prayer.

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
martys47@comcast.net

Teachers

Richard Cruse

Pete Seale

Ben Welmaker
bhwjr@flash.net

Outreach (inviting and welcoming new members)

Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
anne.berry@comcast.net

 Elizabeth Sleeper
jsleeperjr@comcast.net

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