The Prime Timers A.B.F. invites you to join us!

We meet just about every Sunday in the Payne Education Center from 10:10am to 10:50, rooms 207-209.  We have coffee and snacks and the wisdom of Paul waiting for you!

Happy July 4th Weekend!

Prime Timers Good News

At the beginning of our class we set aside time for members to bring us their good news. For $1 you have the floor. With no class today you can save your dollars for next week!

Faith and Freedom

All the St. Martin's ABF classes were combined this week so that we could attend a speech by church member the Honorable Harold R. (Hal) DeMoss, Jr. Judge DeMoss is the Circuit Judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals-Fifth Circuit, and the title of his talk is “Do we really need a Wall of Separation between Church and State?”

 To the left you can see a copy of the little pocket book all attending the lecture received. It is a publication of the American Bar Association, and you can get a copy for $1.50 at their web site. In one easy to carry book you get the full Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, some short biographies of our founding fathers, and some interesting facts about our judicial history.

Judge DeMoss talk centered around the first Amendment to the Constitution:  Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The first phrase is often referred to as "the establishment clause", and as Judge DeMoss said, is often used by many to try to legally eliminate religion from the public square. Judge DeMoss argues that the second phrase "no law..prohibiting the free exercise thereof" needs to be applied as well. He believes as Christians we need to make our voices heard about this, and not just in a safe Church setting.

The Judge concluded his talk by asking us to read the section of the Declaration of Independence that begins:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Here's hoping that you have a wonderful and safe July 4th weekend. And reading the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence would be a great place to start!

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Mentor

Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org

Leader

For Judge Hal DeMoss talk on "Do we really need a Wall of Separation between Church and State" all attending were given this neat pocket book with the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, some short biographies of our founding fathers, and other historical judicial information. You can click on it to get a copy for yourself!

We return to the letters of Paul to the Corinthians next week. This is from the stained glass window in the new church. You really have to see these windows in person to appreciate their true beauty. St. Martin's Episcopal Church conducts tours of the church every Sunday starting at 12:30pm, and then Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:45am to 12:30pm, with a formal tour from 11:00am to 12:00pm.

The Lesson for Sunday, July 9nd is titled "To Eat or Not to Eat"

Key Verse:  1 Corinthians 8:8-9

Focus of the Lesson:  People need to be aware of how their actions affect others. How can we show consideration to others? Paul urges Christians to live in such a way that we do not cause another to sin.

The reading is 1 Corinthians 8:1-13. This text is from the New International Version^®.

   1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But the man who loves God is known by God.

   4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

   7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

   9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

NIV®