"And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29)

Come On In! It's Cool Inside!

Welcome to Prime Timers, a Christian Education Group at St. Martin's for Episcopalians aged fifty and above. Don't let that stop you, though. We are following a course of study based on the Revised Common Lectionary and you are invited to join us in the Parlor near the church offices, Sunday after the 9:00am service, 10:15am to 11:00. What have you got to lose?

BOUTS, Dieric the Elder, Prophet Elijah in the Desert, 1464-68, Oil on panel, Sint-Pieterskerk, Leuven.

Prime Timers Good News

Each week we hear our members good news, but it costs a dollar! We collect these dollars and currently we donate the money to the Amistad Mission in Bolivia. Linda gave thanks for a safe return from England, battling volcanos and strikes by the cabin crews on British Airways. Marty is thankful that construction is finished at the office he works at.

The Monthly Dinner Fellowship is at...

Escalates on Woodway, same as last month. Everyone enjoyed this Tex-Mexican Restaurant so why change? Third Tuesday, June 15, at 6:30pm. Please let Lynn Swaffar know if you are coming, she's at (281) 495-3832.

Your Faith Has Saved You

Carol Hartland led the Prime Timers through this weeks readings about people saved by faith. Carol pointed out that our scripture reading in church this morning was 2 Samuel 11:26--12:10, 13-15, the story of King David and Uriah's wife Bathsheba and David's admission that he had Uriah put in mortal danger so that David could marry her. Our lectionary reading, on the other hand is 1 Kings 21:1-10 (11-14), 15-21a, the story of King Ahab and Jezebel. King Ahab wants the vineyard owned by Naboth, who won't sell it because it is his ancestral inheritance. Ahab's wife Jezebel conspires to have Naboth falsely accused and stoned to death so her husband can claim the land.

Both these stories involve sinners, in the first case the great King David, the one who slew Goliath, getting involved in a tawdry love affair. He recognizes his sin before God and is forgiven, but not before the child born of the affair is stricken ill and dies. King Ahab and Jezebel are brought to account by the prophet Elijah, who predicts disaster for Ahab and his kingdom, and in 1 Kings 21:23 for Jezebel "The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the bounds of Jezreel." Ahab tears his clothes and puts a sackcloth on, and the Lord, hearing Ahabs repentance, calls off the disasters, but (1 Kings 21:29) "...but in his son's days I will bring the disaster on his house."

In both cases it is the sons who suffer the consequences! This sin business is getting complicated. The scripture reading from Luke is a Jesus with the Pharisee's lesson, involving a woman, a sinner but not necessarily a prostitute, who hears that Jesus is at the Pharisee's house and comes seeking forgiveness. She cries and her tears wet Jesus' feet, which she dries with her hair! Jesus sees her hearty repentance and forgives her sins. This shocks the Pharisee, who is Jesus to forgive this woman's sins? The lesson is that with all the laws in Jewish society sometimes there was no way out for a person like the woman washing Jesus' feet. Jesus breaks through this dilemma with his forgiveness.

Carol read Psalm 5 and commented how the Psalms are kind of the Cliff's Notes of the Bible!

Our notes for class usually have a quote that helps us understand the Scripture readings, and this week is no exception. Soujouners is a magazine and website with this mission:

Our mission is to articulate the biblical call to social justice, inspiring hope and building a movement to transform individuals, communities, the church, and the world.

Michaela Bruzzese, a Sojourners contributing writer, lives in Brooklyn, New York. She wrote in Sojourners, (May-June 2001):

"For both the Jewish and Christian traditions, the theme of forgiveness is one of the most difficult. There is a fine line between justice and mercy, and we humans struggle endlessly with how, when, and if to extend each, as if they are mutually exclusive. Fortunately, we worship a God who loves justice and mercy equally, and who lavishes both upon us as we ask and need.

"In Luke, we witness a … bountiful and senseless extension of mercy. Once more, Luke's central focus is a woman, who immediately recognizes Jesus as Messiah and does not hesitate to act. Luke does not name the woman's sins, nor does Jesus ask or seem to care. Overwhelmed by the 'great love' she has shown, Jesus admonishes the Pharisee who 'did not give me a kiss' and 'did not anoint my head with oil' (Lk. 7:45-47), but stands aloof, judging and analyzing Jesus before he dares to act.

"It is nearly impossible for most of us to comprehend a God who forgives without merit, who loves us anyway, who keeps calling us home to the fullness of life that only God can give. During this ordinary time, however, we have the chance to risk
great love, instead of standing aloof in judgment. Perhaps we, too, can yield the fruits of forgiveness and know the great love to which we are invited."

Carol concluded class with a short prayer.

The Readings for Sunday, June 20th are from Lectionary Year Three, Proper 7-C, "Jesus' Healing Power"

The Readings for this week are 1 Kings 19:1-4 (5-7), 8-15a; Psalms 42 and 43; Galatians 3:23-29 and Luke 8:26-39. The text this week is from the New Revised Standard Version.

1 Kings 19:1-4 (5-7), 8-15a

¹Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, 'So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.' ³Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.
⁴ But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: 'It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.' ⁵Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, 'Get up and eat.' ⁶He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, 'Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.' ⁸He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. ⁹At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' ¹⁰He answered, 'I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.'

Elijah Meets God at Horeb

¹¹ He said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.' Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹²and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' ¹⁴He answered, 'I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.' ¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, 'Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram

Psalm 42

To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.

¹ As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
² My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?
³ My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
'Where is your God?'

⁴ These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,
and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.
⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help ⁶and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.
⁸ By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I say to God, my rock,
'Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?'
¹⁰ As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
'Where is your God?'

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

Psalm 43

¹ Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people;
from those who are deceitful and unjust
deliver me!
² For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you cast me off?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because of the oppression of the enemy?

³ O send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling.
⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy;
and I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

Galatians 3:23-29

²³ Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. ²⁴Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, ²⁶for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. ²⁷As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Luke 8:26-39

²⁶ Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. ²⁸When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, 'What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me'— ²⁹for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) ³⁰Jesus then asked him, 'What is your name?' He said, 'Legion'; for many demons had entered him. ³¹They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
³² Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. ³³Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
³⁴ When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. ³⁶Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. ³⁷Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. ³⁸The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹'Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.' So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

NRSV