The "Little" Tower of Babel by Pieter the Elder Bruegel, c.  1564, oil on panel at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder, Jackie Rose, was to have a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are still online here. The group disbanded but the readings below are being kept up to date.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, June 9 are from Lectionary Year C, Day of Pentecost: Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Romans 8:14-17 and John 14:8-17, (25-27). The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Acts 2:1-21

¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine."

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵ These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

    ¹⁷ “ ‘In the last days, God says,
         I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
             Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
         your young men will see visions,
             your old men will dream dreams.
    ¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women,
         I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
             and they will prophesy.
    ¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above
         and signs on the earth below,
         blood and fire and billows of smoke.
     ²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness
         and the moon to blood
         before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
    ²¹ And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

or Genesis 11:1-9

¹ Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. ³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” ⁵ But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” ⁸ So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Psalm 104:25-35, 37

²⁴ How many are your works, LORD!
     In wisdom you made them all;
     the earth is full of your creatures.

²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious,
     teeming with creatures beyond number—
     living things both large and small.

²⁶ There the ships go to and fro,
     and Leviathan,
     which you formed to frolic there.

²⁷ All creatures look to you
     to give them their food at the proper time.

²⁸ When you give it to them, they gather it up;
     when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.

²⁹ When you hide your face, they are terrified;
     when you take away their breath,
     they die and return to the dust.

³⁰ When you send your Spirit, they are created,
     and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹ May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
     may the LORD rejoice in his works—

³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
     who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

³³ I will sing to the LORD all my life;
     I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
     as I rejoice in the LORD.

³⁷ Praise the LORD, my soul.
     Praise the LORD.

Romans 8:14-17

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

John 14:8-17, (25-27)

⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

[²⁵ “All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.]

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.