"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people." (Matthew 4:23)

Prime Timers is a small group at St. Martin's for Episcopalians aged fifty and above. We are following 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. You are invited to join us in the Parlor near the church offices, Sunday after the 9:00am service, 10:15am to 11:00. Keep up to date with our Lectionary based readings at the bottom of this page!

During December and January the Prime Timers class will be suspended several times as we celebrate the events of this time of year, however this page will continue to update the Lectionary readings class or no class.

St. Martin's Church viewed from the baptismal font.

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. Lynda gave thanks three times, first for her son who is getting married, second for her son who got engaged and third for her forty-forth wedding anniversary! Murray is from Canada and if you think the northern states have some severe weather you should go to Canada! He is grateful that his daughter is well after a particularly bad spell of weather, complete with an avalanche!

Here is the Lamb of God

Carol Hartland leads the Prime Timers today in our Lectionary discussion of Christ as the Lamb of God. Christ dies for our sins, a perfect sacrifice. John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, (John 1:29) and this imagery is exclusive to the Book of John.

Class discusses the issue of blood sacrifices and how the sacrifice of Jesus renders this pagan ritual unnecessary. Marty mentions how he saw on TV a lamb being sacrificed and thought it was a Christian ritual! It turns out that this is still practiced by some villages in Greece in a sacrifice to Orthodox saints known as Kourbania. Thankfully this practice is gradually dying out. There is also sacrifice of a lamb, or more commonly a rooster, in the Armenian Church in a practice called matagh. This is a continuation of a pagan past, but still very much alive, and a Christian church!

Throughout this Epiphany season, the Epistle readings are taken from the first four chapters of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. As most of Paul's converts in Corinth were of Gentile ancestry, he addressed them as people who belonged to God in union with Jesus the Messiah (1:1-2). He was thus affirming not only the legitimacy of his own authority over them but their own identity as a congregation of God's people, sharing both their belief in Christ and their common life. He proceeds to give thanks for the grace of God and for the fact that the testimony of Jesus has been strengthened among them.

Class discussion centers around how we take Jesus' message out in our day to day lives. How often does conversation at work turn to spiritual matters? One of our guests today says her workgroup includes a man with a Masters of Divinity and another who is a minister! Marty works for a large company, but in a small branch office, and the manager began the Thanksgiving and Christmas parties with a prayer. Day to day most companies bend over backward not to offend any religious sensibilities, and as a consequence little is discussed. Leading by example is our best chance of walking in his ways.

Our class notes generally include a passage from a theological writer and today is no exception. Craig A. Satterlee is an author, preacher, pastor, teacher, conference speaker, and congregational consultant. He serves as professor of homiletics at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and dean of the ACTS Doctor of Ministry in Preaching Program. He wrote in Currents in Theology and Mission (Dec. 2004):
"In our day-to-day living, that's what we want to know as well. 'Jesus, where are you staying?' Jesus, are you staying with me? And Jesus answers, 'Come and see.'
"Where do we look for God? Isaiah tells us that God will not be found inside the lines that we draw, the borders that we set, or the walls that we build. Paul reminds us that God will not be found in gifts and accomplishments measured by human standards. God won't be found in spectacle, miracle, or undeniable
success. That's not the way God chooses to work.

"John invited us to come and see Jesus. And we see. We see that the Word made flesh, the One baptized at the river, becomes the healer of the sick, the friend of the outcast, the herald of good news to the poor. Jesus stays with us. Even in pain, even in humiliation, even in rejection, betrayal, denial, destruction, and
death, Jesus stays with us. That's what it means to be 'the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.' That's what it means to 'baptize with the Holy Spirit.' In Jesus, God stays with us, no matter what!"

Carol concluded class with a short prayer.

The Readings for Sunday, January 23rd are from Lectionary Year One, Epiphany-3A, "Follow Me"

The Readings for this week are Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1,5-13; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 and Matthew 4:12-23. The text this week is from the New Revised Standard Version.

Isaiah 9:1-4

¹But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
² The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
³ You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
⁴ For the yoke of their burden,
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.

Psalm 27:1, 5-13

Of David.

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

⁵ For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.

⁶ Now my head is lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
⁸ 'Come,' my heart says, 'seek his face!'
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
⁹ Do not hide your face from me.

Do not turn your servant away in anger,
you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
¹⁰ If my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will take me up.

¹¹ Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
¹² Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they are breathing out violence.

¹³ I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

¹⁰ Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you should be in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose. ¹¹For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. ¹²What I mean is that each of you says, 'I belong to Paul', or 'I belong to Apollos', or 'I belong to Cephas', or 'I belong to Christ.' ¹³Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.
¹⁸ For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Matthew 4:12-23

¹² Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
¹⁵ 'Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶ the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.'
¹⁷From that time Jesus began to proclaim, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.'
¹⁸ As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.' ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

²³ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

NRSV