St. Martin's Episcopal Church

Its Summer Already and You Are Looking for Something to Do. Welcome to the St. Martin's Prime Timers Adult Bible Fellowship.

We meet in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209, Sunday from 10:10 to 10:50am. While Prime Timers is geared towards people aged fifty to sixty-four, we always welcome new members and whatever your age you are invited.

The Rev. Massey Gentry

We are extremely fortunate that our mentor, St. Martin's Vice-Rector the Rev. Massey Gentry will be leading the class for most of June.

This summer until the end of August our class is studying the Prophets: Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Lamentations (traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah), Ezekiel, Zechariah and Malachi. These prophets proclaimed God's word over several hundred years, but their message was consistent: A faithful relationship with God entails specific requirements, one of which is to do right. Its just beginning, now is a good time to join us!

Food for the Chicken

The Prime Timers set aside time at the start of class to hear members Good News. It only costs a dollar! Currently when the "nest" gets big enough we are donating money to the Amistad Mission in Bolivia. Midge reported that her daughter in law will receive a new kidney this week, and she is returning to Connecticut to be with her. All our prayers are with her for a successful procedure.

Everything You Wanted to Know...

June is the month when our summer plans get into high gear and the Prime Timers are no exception. Unfortunately our teaching crew will be AWOL most of the month. We are fortunate that our mentor, Vice-Rector the Rev. Massey Gentry will be available to fill in for these sessions. This morning Massey asked the class whether they would like to pursue our reading from the prophet Amos, or to have a session "Everything You Wanted to Know about the Episcopal Church but Were Afraid to Ask." It didn't take long for the second option to win!

The first question was who is the Nigerian Bishop who is criticizing American dioceses and what is he up to? He is Archbishop Peter Akinola, a primate of the Church of Nigeria, and he wants the US Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada to be disciplined over their views on homosexuality. He declared 'No Church can ignore the teaching of the Bible with impunity.' In order to help us understand the inner workings of the church better, Massey explained how there are thirty eight Provinces within the church, and four provinces that are associated with the church. Each province is self-governing. Answering the question of whether Archbishop Akinola has official standing within the US church, the simple answer is no.

There are two key words to keep in mind to understand church dogma, or truth. These are "regular" and "valid." Regular refers to acts or sacraments, such as the church performing baptisms, administering the Eucharist or performing wedding ceremonies. The Church requires five conditions for a valid sacrament: the subject, matter, form, minister, and intention must be right.

The subject, for instance, must be capable of receiving the sacrament, being baptized twice would not be a valid baptism. The matter refers to the materials, like the water, bread and wine used for a sacrament. The form refers to the words used to perform the sacrament. The minister must be someone authorized by the church. The intention must match, for all intents and purposes what the sacrament is meant to accomplish. A stage wedding ceremony in a play, for instance, would not be a valid marriage.

Bishop V. Gene Robinson, of the Diocese of New Hampshire, then, was ordained in a regular manner and his validity was confirmed in a series of three votes by the Episcopal General Convention. Of course that is not the end of the controversy over him and the issue of how to treat homosexuality in the church. There are two organizations at the front of the effort to sever ties with the Episcopal Church over this issue. CANA, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, is an organization founded legally and canonically within the Anglican Communion by the Church of Nigeria, supporting traditional values. AMiA, the Anglican Mission in America, was founded in the year 2000 under the auspices of Archbishops Kolini of Rwanda and Archbishop Yong of South East Asia. There is some dispute over whether this organization has valid ties to the Anglican communion. Both of these organizations present themselves as a method for churches to sever ties with The Episcopal Church in America and still be part of the worldwide Anglican communion.

This issue continues to boil and Massey believes that the most likely result will be separate Episcopal churches, possibly with overlapping jurisdictions and the potential for property disputes.

Someone asked how the Episcopal Church started and Massey began with some interesting history. Did you know that there was an English Celtic Christian tradition in England before the Romans? Massey then mentioned the Council of Arles, in France, as one of the earliest Ecumenical Councils, in 314. The Catholic Church really began in England when Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine to Britain to get the Celtic Christians more in line with Rome. At the time they agreed, mostly due to more pressing matters at hand, such as the Barbarians encroaching from the east and Norsemen challenging the sea lanes. This issue simmered for centuries, but the murder of Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170 is an event that started the tide building for the separation. King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215. It contained 63 points, the very first being that the English church was to be free. While there is a feeling that King Henry VIII created the Church of England due to a divorce issue, Henry spent most of his reign challenging the authority of Rome and the divorce was just one of many issues that led to the separation from Rome.

Massey pointed out that the nineteenth century Popes took a much harder line with the Anglicans. He was then asked what happened to Episcopalians in the US during the Revolutionary War! In fact, we were on the wrong side of the battle, with ministers taking the side of the British. When the war was over, the Church of England refused to consecrate Bishops in this country. There is the famous case of Samuel Seabury (1729-1796) elected Bishop in Connecticut, who went to England and could not be ordained because he could not profess allegiance to the King of England. The Scottish Episcopal Church at the time refused to recognize the authority of George III and agreed to consecrate Seabury in Aberdeen.

Shortly after this Massey had to leave to prepare for the 11am service. Another member described attending a meeting of the church in New Hampshire where Rev. Robinson was a minister. They all supported him fully, had genuine affection for him, and more than that regarded the whole issue as one of Civil Rights, "the same as ordaining Women." They also indicated that there was no room for compromise. Our member was surprised at the level of intolerance of any other view.

Class then broke up, we surely live in interesting times. Come back next week for the next exciting chapter...

Prime Timers Contact names and numbers

Mentor

Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org

Leaders

Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
atberry@proctor-law.com

Max Kech
713/802-0690 H
maxkech2003@yahoo.com

Marty Smith
713/464-6737 H
martys@houston.rr.com

Teachers

Richard Cruse

Chris Hershberger

Pete Seale

Ben Welmaker
bhwjr@flash.net

Outreach (inviting and welcoming new members)

Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
atberry@proctor-law.com