Make a Lenten promise--Join the Prime Timers!

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, ages 50-64, but don't worry, we don't check. 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. This is a great time to join our group as we begin the third quarter titled "New Creation in Christ."

Don't Miss Shrove Tuesday at St. Martin's

From left to right, Rev. Ron Morris, Rev. Jim Cunningham, Rev. Ken Fields and Rev. John Bentley. Yes, its Shrove Tuesday 2009 at St. Martin's!

The St. Martin's Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper and Celebration is this Tuesday, February 24, 5:30-7:30pm. Everyone is invited to come, tickets are available at the door, $8 for adults, $5 for children or $25 maximum for a family. If you would like to participate with the Prime Timers, come to the activity center before 6:30 and we will find a role for you to play! Our theme this year is Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance.

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 worthy charity, currently the Amistad Mission in Bolivia.  Lynne told us the story of her car battery dying and serendipitously allowing her to have a last good-bye with a dying relative.

Isaiah Answers God's Call

Isaiah with the Seraphim, Petites Heures de Jean de Berry, a 14th-century illuminated manuscript

Carol Hartland was our "guru" today, leading us in the last segment of our journey through the Old Testament with Isaiah's encounter with the Seraphim. Isaiah's time is the eighth century before Christ. Isaiah was a contemporary of other Old Testament prophets such as Amos, Hosea and Micah. Israel had reached the height of its power and influence during the kingships of David and his son Solomon. After Solomon's death the nation was divided into two kingdoms--Israel in the north with its capital Samaria and Judah in the south with its capital at Jerusalem. The Northern Kingdom fell under the control of the Assyrian Empire in 721 B.C. Judah hung on but was always in danger.

Isaiah encounters the seraph's in the temple Solomon built, and this is evidence that Isaiah was a priest, since only priests were allowed in the Temple. It was the year King Uzziah died. He had ruled wisely and well from age sixteen for over forty years, and his death marked the end of a period of glory and prosperity. God struck Uzziah down with leprosy for a sin of pride. Isaiah was likely depressed and discouraged by the loss of his monarch. In his encounter God is seated on a throne, as is typical in the Bible. God is attended by seraphs, creatures with six wings who are only mentioned here in the Bible. Two wings covered their feet, a symbol of chastity, two over the eyes a symbol of humility and of course two for flying.

The seraphs, also known a fiery serpents in Isaiah 14:29, take a burning coal from the altar, with tongs, and touch Isaiah's lips with the coal, a symbol of purification. Isaiah hears God's call, and in the tradition of Abraham, Moses, Samuel and others in the Old Testament responds:  "Here am I. Send Me" 

Carol asked the class for examples of people making a commitment with their lives. Millard Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976 and recently passed away, was mentioned. Bill and Melinda Gates with their philanthropic work. Someone mentioned Lynne's daughter with her missionary work in Budapest, and someone mentioned a missionary to South Africa. This led to a discussion of how dangerous its become there, the missionary having to live in a walled enclosure with broken glass atop a stone fence!

George mentioned a friend who was a pilot for twenty five years. Pilots have annual physical check-ups that certify whether they are allowed to fly. This year the check-up determined George's friend has a heart condition and just like that he was out of a job. George says the man is coping well with the situation, and others in the class mentioned how many people are having to cope with big changes in the current economic climate. 

Carol concluded class with a short benediction, from  Luke 1:38:  Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.

The Lesson for Sunday, March 1st,  is "A New Spirit"

Key Verse:  Ezekiel 11:19

Focus of the Lesson: The frustrations of life, especially problems of our making, may entice us to give up hope for change. Is everything truly lost because we must reap the rewards of our own folly? Absolutely not, claims the prophet, for the God who never abandons us promises to give us a fresh start by providing a new heart and spirit.

The reading is Ezekiel 11:14-21. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)

   ¹⁴The word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁵"Son of man, your brothers—your brothers who are your blood relatives and the whole house of Israel—are those of whom the people of Jerusalem have said, 'They are far away from the LORD; this land was given to us as our possession.'

   ¹⁶"Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.'

   ¹⁷"Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.'

   ¹⁸"They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. ¹⁹I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. ²⁰Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD."

NIV