Exodus 3:4 "...And Moses said, 'Here I am.'"

Prime Timers, a St. Martin's Adult Christian Education (A.C.E.) group, also known as an A.B.F. (Adult Bible Fellowship), is for people in the Prime of Life, age 50 and beyond. Class meets in the Parlor near the Church Offices each Sunday from 10:15 am to 11:00. We are following a course of study from the United Council of Churches titled Call Sealed with a Promise. You are invited to join our group as we begin a new unit titled "Called Out of Egypt" and spend some time with us studying the Book of Exodus.

Moses and the Israelites

Most of the Prime Timers can remember when we first saw Cecil B. DeMille's epic "The Ten Commandments" with the late Charlton Heston. Our reading for next Sunday, at the bottom of this page, is the Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy 5:1-27.

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.  Murray and Annette returned from Calgary, Canada (where it is in the 70's in the daytime and the forties at night!) safely.

God Calls the People Out of Eqypt.

Carol Hartland led the Prime Timers this morning through one of the most famous of the Old Testament stories, Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt across the parted Red Sea. There is a wide spectrum of opinion as to when this event happened, all the way from 1,400 BC to 1,250 BC. This timing allows for no less than six possible Egyptian Pharaoh's, all the way from Amenhotep II to Rameses II. At any rate whoever the Pharaoh was, he didn't get God's messages. Remember in the events leading up to the Red Sea parting we have the ten plagues. First the Nile is turned to blood, then there are plagues of frogs, gnats and flies. Next is the plague of cattle, then boils and hail. Then you have the plague of locusts and darkness followed by the most devastating, the death of the first born.

Carol is using Halley's Bible Handbook for some of the details surrounding this Scripture. It suggests that perhaps the Red Sea mentioned in Exodus is an area called the Bitter Lakes today. The Gulf of Suez reached further in Moses time than now and the phenomenon of a land bridge forming from wind activity was not an unusual occurrence. Not as dramatic as the scene from "The Ten Commandments" where the late Charlton Heston waves his arm and the sea parts in a vertical wall!

Carol is taken by the Song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-18) and read it for us:

¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD :
"I will sing to the LORD,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea.

²The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father's God, and I will exalt him.

³The LORD is a warrior;
the LORD is his name.

⁴Pharaoh's chariots and his army
he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh's officers
are drowned in the Red Sea.

⁵The deep waters have covered them;
they sank to the depths like a stone.

⁶"Your right hand, O LORD,
was majestic in power.
Your right hand, O LORD,
shattered the enemy.

⁷In the greatness of your majesty
you threw down those who opposed you.
You unleashed your burning anger;
it consumed them like stubble.

⁸By the blast of your nostrils
the waters piled up.
The surging waters stood firm like a wall;
the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹"The enemy boasted,
'I will pursue, I will overtake them.
I will divide the spoils;
I will gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword
and my hand will destroy them.'

¹⁰But you blew with your breath,
and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
in the mighty waters.

¹¹"Who among the gods is like you, O LORD
Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders?

¹²You stretched out your right hand
and the earth swallowed them.

¹³"In your unfailing love you will lead
the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them
to your holy dwelling.

¹⁴The nations will hear and tremble;
anguish will grip the people of Philistia.

¹⁵The chiefs of Edom will be terrified,
the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling,
the people of Canaan will melt away;

¹⁶terror and dread will fall upon them.
By the power of your arm
they will be as still as a stone—
until your people pass by, O LORD,
until the people you bought pass by.

¹⁷You will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain of your inheritance—
the place, O LORD, you made for your dwelling,
the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established.

¹⁸The LORD will reign
for ever and ever."

Carol asked the class is we had any examples of God intervening in our lives. Naturally after the great miracles in Exodus the events in our own lives seem kind of small. Carol mentioned having a guardian angel when the woman returned the purse Carol had left in the shopping cart at Walmart last week. How about your house being spared by Hurricane Ike last year? God can be our source of strength in times of trouble, then again strong personal relationships can fill this same need. Carol mentioned people waiting for organ transplants becoming angry or going into denial. These people are going to die if a suitable organ does not become available and there they are, waiting. After getting the transplant they become different, thankful people!

Anne suggested being "open to God" and ready to act. Elizabeth described her father, who lived into his nineties, who was always there to help. It is so easy to find reasons why we can't help others, but Elizabeth remembers her father always willing to drop everything to go and help others. Elizabeth tries to live up to that standard herself!

Marty suggested that Exodus is a country origin story, written by people who may exaggerate for effect or to make a point, such as God's power in a time when Egyptian Pharaoh's considered themselves as divine beings.

Carol described the personal reward you get working with seriously ill patients in the hospital, and how the program she is a part of was born of a desire by people at St. Martin's, notably the Rev. Doctor Helen Appelberg, to make spiritual help available to all people at the hospital.

Carol concluded class with this benediction:  "We hear your call, O God, and ask that you send us forth empowered by your Spirit to live and serve as your covenant people."

The Lesson for Sunday, July 5th,  is "God Calls People to Covenant"

Key Verse:  Deuteronomy 5:1

Focus of the Lesson: People make agreements to give structure and rules for their life together. What regulations are necessary to enjoy mutually beneficial lives? God set forth ten rules of conduct governing behavior, property, relationships, and worship.

The reading is Deuteronomy 5:1-9, 11-13, 16-21. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

Background Scripture:  Deuteronomy 5:1-27

   ¹Moses summoned all Israel and said:
   Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. ²The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. ³It was not with our fathers that the LORD made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. ⁴The LORD spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. ⁵(At that time I stood between the LORD and you to declare to you the word of the LORD, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:

   ⁶"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

   ⁷"You shall have no other gods before me.

   ⁸"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁹You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

   ¹¹"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

   ¹²"Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. ¹³Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. ¹⁵Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

   ¹⁶"Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

   ¹⁷"You shall not murder.

   ¹⁸"You shall not commit adultery.

   ¹⁹"You shall not steal.

   ²⁰"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

   ²¹"You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

NIV