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 ABF (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 10:15am to 11:00. We are following a course of study from the United Council of Churches titled The New Testament Community. You are invited to join our group as we begin a new unit titled "Call Sealed with a Promise" and spend some time with us studying the Book of Exodus.

Prime Timers go to Afghanistan!

Thursday, May 7, the Prime Timers had our monthly dinner get-together at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Beck building. We were given a private tour of the Afghanistan Exhibit by Museum docent and Prime Timer Connie Colley! This exhibit is leaving on May 17 so we were very lucky to have this opportunity. Thanks to Lynn Swaffar for the photo!

The Prime Timers June get-together will be at Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen on Woodway, June 2, 2009, Tuesday at the usual time 6:30pm. If you would like to attend, let Anne Berry (832-251-8868 or anne.berry@comcast.net) know so we can get a headcount!

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.  Donn gave thanks for the day! Oakley told us of a grandson graduating High School. Martin mentioned his cousin's daughter being a star in her middle-school production of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Lynn is very happy about how some repairs and landscaping are coming at her house.

New Life in the Home

Donn Fullenweider began our exploration of Paul's letter to the Ephesians by reading the material before our planned reading! Here is Ephesians 5:1-20, from The New International Version Bible:

   ¹Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

   ³But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. ⁴Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷Therefore do not be partners with them.

   ⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, ¹⁴for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
     "Wake up, O sleeper,
      rise from the dead,
      and Christ will shine on you."

   ¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. ¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. ¹⁹Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These are very strong words, and Donn reminded us of the times in which Paul wrote them. Most of Paul's new converts to Christ had no idea of what was expected of them or how to act. Remember, for instance, that having slaves back then was an accepted part of life, and Paul made sure his converts knew that slaves were to be treated with respect. Keeping differences in mind is important as we headed into our reading, from Ephesians 5:21--6:4, when Paul tells his converts to "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." In the very next verse Paul tells women to submit to their husbands. Donn made us stop for a moment to remind us that the meaning of submit in this case is more in the line of a military man submitting to his superiors orders than submission in the sense of being inferior.

Submitting to your husband is a Bible passage that's been misused, and Donn asked the ladies in the group if they had any feelings about this and of course they did! The position of women in society is dramatically different today in civilized countries, and Donn wanted to make sure we knew that Paul's writings are not backward in this sense. He used Gary Wills book "What Paul Meant" to make this point. Wills, at the beginning of chapter 5, titled "Paul and Women" cites this from Galatians 3:26-28  "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

A class member told of hearing Della Reese mention on one of the afternoon talk shows how she was "married to a psychopath" and how she overcame this and the problems of being black in the middle of the last century. Another member felt that when both parties to a marriage treat the other as equals, this is the basis for happiness. Someone else cited working together as a good basis. With some of our class members being part of fifty year plus marriages they must be doing something right!

Then we heard examples of how the Bible can be misused. Someone mentioned the Texas polygamist sect from last year out in West Texas. How the women there looked like "Stepford Wives;" all dressed alike and submissive. The Mormon Church places men solidly as the head of a household. Donn's law practice sees evidence of rampant spousal abuse. The internet makes the whole world available to most anyone along with the wonder of teenagers and pornography. Children are exposed to the world way faster than we would like, is it any wonder that forty percent (40%!!!) of children are born out of wedlock. All of this is a reminder of how self-centered people can become:  it's all about me. We spoil our children. Do they really need three cell phones? Carol summed this up by saying when children, or co-workers, start moaning and groaning about their problems maybe someone should send them home and tell them to read the Bible!!!

So what can we do to encourage good family relationships? We all believe in setting a good example. How can you tell children not to use drugs if you are getting drunk every night? Children are amazing observers but sometimes not very good interpreters. It must be traumatic for a child to be in the middle of a divorce, and if later on in life the child ends up in an equally unhappy relationship it simply compounds the tragedy. When situations spin so sadly out of control the only example being set is failure.

Oakley was in the Marines forty years ago. He saw examples of incredible change. Boys who came into the Corp. and changed the way they talked, the way they dressed and took care of themselves, the way they stood, etc. Of course young men need to be ready for something like this change, but it gives you hope that people can in fact be transformed. Jesus, after all, is waiting for when people are ready for a spiritual transformation. If there is a common thread through the centuries it's that the younger generation is "going to hell in a hand basket." There is no certainty except change, so look for the positive threads and go with them!

Donn concluded class with this benediction:  Give us new hearts filled with your Spirit, O Lord, that we may live as new creations in Christ. Amen.

The Lesson for Sunday, June 7th,  is "God Calls Moses"

Key Verses:  Exodus 3:10

Focus of the Lesson: Sometimes a special person is called to help another person or a people to overcome difficulties and to survive in time of hardship. Who has the power and position to help us? God chose Moses to save God's people and promised to give Moses all the help he needed.

The reading is Exodus 3:1-12. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

Background Scripture:  Exodus 2:23--3:12

   ²³During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. ²⁴God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. ²⁵So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

   ¹Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up."

   ⁴When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
   And Moses said, "Here I am."

   ⁵"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." ⁶Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

   ⁷The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

   ¹¹But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

   ¹²And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

NIV