The St. Martin's Adult Bible Fellowships welcome you.

Prime Timers is a St. Martin's Adult Bible Fellowship (A.B.F.) geared towards people in the Prime of Life, ages 50-64. We meet in the Payne Education Center in rooms 207-209 from 10:15am to 10:50. You are invited to explore the Bible with us in a course authored by the United Council of Churches.

The Prime Timers are beginning a new unit, "Jesus as God's Son." Why don't you join us?

Our readings in June are from Hebrews, its a new lesson plan titled "Images of Christ in Hebrew's." If you can't wait, the reading for next week is at the bottom of this page!

Call to Renew the Covenant 

Ben Welmaker conducted the Prime Timers in our last venture through the book of Nehemiah, concluding with a seven day festival! As usual, we begin hearing our members Good News, and Don reported his surgery was successful and he is rapidly recovering. Sue gave thanks for her grandson, evidently a problem child at one time but now an honor student graduating college in Boston.

Our reading from Nehemiah saw the Jews through some rough times, the destruction of the Temple and exile, but now they are home, the Temple is rebuilt, the Wall around Jerusalem is reconstructed and it is time for contemplation. It is the first day of the seventh month and the people congregate for a reading of the Book of Law of Moses. This is understood as the first five books of the Old Testament. The first day of the seventh month is the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah. Leviticus 23:24 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. ²⁵Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.' "

The people weep at hearing the Law, perhaps remembering their own failings. The next holy day is Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16:29-30 "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or an alien living among you- ³⁰because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins." Finally there is the festival of Sukkot, literally "booths" celebrating the forty years when the children of Israel wandered in the desert, living in temporary shelters, or booths. Leviticus 23:34 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days."

The reading from Nehemiah is kind of an introduction to the High Holy days of the Jewish faith. All of this made Ben wonder if these people would spend entire days contemplating the Word of God, how different that is from the "Hour of Worship" on Sunday, where we mainly deal with short sections of Scripture. Maybe we miss the context completely! He suggested a method of reading the Bible, you might want to try this yourself. Download an entire Book of the Bible and put it into a Word document on your computer, or any word processor that lets you create a two column table on the page, with the Bible book on the left side and the right side blank, ready for your comments or research notes. Read the book and add your own commentary. When you are done the book of the Bible you are reading will be yours because your thoughts will be on the screen right next to the Biblical text!

Ben concluded class with a prayer.

The Lesson for Sunday, June 1st is "Jesus as God's Son"

Key Verse:  Hebrews 1:3

Focus of the Lesson: People search for authoritative and credible voices to answer life's questions. Who can speak to us about the deeper meanings of life? God spoke to us through God's beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

The reading is Hebrews 1:1-4, 8-12. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

Background Scripture:  Hebrews 1

    ¹In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ²but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. ³The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. ⁴So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

⁸But about the Son he says,
   "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever,
   and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
⁹You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
   therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
   by anointing you with the oil of joy."
¹⁰He also says,
   "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
   and the heavens are the work of your hands.
¹¹They will perish, but you remain;
   they will all wear out like a garment.
¹²You will roll them up like a robe;
   like a garment they will be changed.
   But you remain the same,
   and your years will never end."

NIV