"‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29)

Prime Timers is 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, 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.

Abraham and Isaac by Rembrandt, 1635, at The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Fourth of July Weekend!

Class will not meet next week due to July 4th weekend, but the Lectionary readings are up to date at the bottom of this page!

Prime Timer Good News!

A Prime Timer tradition is hearing what others are up to, and charging a dollar for the privilege! Currently we donate the money we collect to the Amistad Mission in Bolivia, helping underprivileged kids. George tells us about problems he is having with a well at his ranch. After three failed attempts to get a pump installed properly, George is going back for a fourth try. The good news? George is thanking the Lord that he is able to laugh and maintain a good humor during this frustrating process! Annette and Murray celebrate the recent wedding of one of their daughters!

Rewards of Discipleship

George Laigle led the Prime Times today while our leader Carol Hartland is away. As you can see from the image above our reading from the Old Testament is the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham's faith in God is put the the ultimate test when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. An Angel of the Lord comes and intercedes just as Abraham is about do the deed. George tells us this is one of the most discussed stories in Bible studies. Who can imagine going as far as Abraham? One possible answer is that Abraham might have thought that God would raise up his son afterwards! Today we lock up someone who kills a family member, and people saying that God wants them to kill their children are considered insane. Then again Marty mentions how in some Arab religions if a daughter is raped the father will "honor kill" the daughter because she has brought shame to the family, despite the daughter being the victim.

George is a movie buff and mentions Sophie's Choice, a 1982 movie that won the Academy Award for best actress for Meryl Streep. This "choice" involves a cynical Nazi death camp, where Sophie is taken with her two children. Choose which one will live and which will die, or else both will be killed. This horrible situation is explained near the end of the movie, and leads to its tragic ending.

The reading from Romans uses the word slave no less than eight times and in this mornings service was read by Ursella Rylander, a Children's Ministry assistant who is black. In this country today we are very aware of the shameful problems caused by slavery, but Paul is using the obedience of slaves from Biblical times to suggest slavery of another type, to righteousness and to God. Rev. Levenson's sermon today was called "Choosing Your Master" along this same line.

Annette says if we are obedient slaves to God then we do not have free will! Then again if we get to choose our master then perhaps we do. Class discussion turns to the fact that in these ancient times very few people had much freedom of choice. George cites Genghis Khan, who gave the communities he was conquering a choice: accept his rule or be totally wiped out! Mongolia since the that time suffered poverty and rule by the Chinese and Russians, but now, thanks to incredible mineral wealth, is attracting luxury stores and people buying cars in a country with no roads!

Changing attitudes is a favorite class subject. The difference between Biblical times and the present is obvious, but even during our lifetimes people have changed. George recalls a 1947 movie with the actor Robert Mitchum, Out of the Past, a popular film noir of the time. After this was made Mitchum was arrested for possessing marijuana, a big scandal at the time. The movie studio wanted to make a sequel to the movie but was unsure how it would do with Mitchum's problems with the law, but the notoriety from this made the sequel more popular than the original! While possessing marijuana doesn't seem like much a a crime today, just look at today's celebrities and their crazy actions and how people eat up all the details; not much has changed in those sixty four years!

Also noted is the story of an escape from Cancun. A convention of bankers was at this resort when a hurricane developed in the Gulf. The hotel kept saying this was not a problem and would pass by, but one man convinced the bankers to leave, and those remaining suffered several days without power and miserable conditions.

George recalled Rev. Bagby, the first Rector of St. Martin's, who described evil in the from of buzzards. He said you can't stop the buzzards from flying, but you can stop them from making a nest on your head!

From our class notes: Rev. Terry C. Graunke is a Lutheran Minister. He has written:
“We had better be open and liberal in welcoming others to our fellowship. You never really know who is knocking at the door, who has come this Sunday, trying to ‘fit in,’ trying to overcome guilt or pain or hurt while at the same time trying to grasp the liturgy, pray with the fellowship, eat and drink at the table. Could she/he be Jesus?”

Murray gave a short prayer to end today's class.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, July 3rd are from Lectionary Year One, Proper 9-A, "The Way of Salvation": Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67; Psalm 45:11-18; Romans 7:15-25a and Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30. The text this week is from the New Revised Standard Version.

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

³⁴ So he said, ‘I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. ³⁶And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. ³⁷My master made me swear, saying, “You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; ³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.”

⁴² ‘I came today to the spring, and said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am going! ⁴³I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, ‘Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,’ ⁴⁴and who will say to me, ‘Drink, and I will draw for your camels also’—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.”

⁴⁵ ‘Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water-jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, “Please let me drink.” ⁴⁶She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, “Drink, and I will also water your camels.” So I drank, and she also watered the camels. ⁴⁷Then I asked her, “Whose daughter are you?” She said, “The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.” So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. ⁴⁸Then I bowed my head and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. ⁴⁹Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.’

⁵⁸And they called Rebekah, and said to her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ She said, ‘I will.’ ⁵⁹So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
‘May you, our sister, become
thousands of myriads;
may your offspring gain possession
of the gates of their foes.’
⁶¹Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

⁶² Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. ⁶³Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. ⁶⁴And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, ⁶⁵and said to the servant, ‘Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?’ The servant said, ‘It is my master.’ So she took her veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Psalm 45:11-18

¹¹ ...the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him;
¹² the people of Tyre will seek your favour with gifts,
the richest of the people ¹³with all kinds of wealth.

The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;
¹⁴ in many-coloured robes she is led to the king;
behind her the virgins, her companions, follow.
¹⁵ With joy and gladness they are led along
as they enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶ In the place of ancestors you, O king, shall have sons;
you will make them princes in all the earth.
¹⁷ I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;
therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever.

Romans 7:15-25a

¹⁵I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. ²²For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, ²³but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

¹⁶ ‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,
¹⁷ “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.”
¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; ¹⁹the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; ²⁶yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸ ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

NRSV